Podcasts about german lutherans

In a world where Christianity often feels lost—caught between political battles, cultural trends, and growing distrust—how do we find our way back to what truly matters? This series, Ancient Faith, invites us to rediscover the Nicene Creed: an ancient, tested declaration that has anchored generations of believers through every storm. We see how the Creed guards our theology, grounds us in unity, and guides us through uncertainty—calling us to live lives that make the gospel beautiful and credible once again. References: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." - Often attributed to great theologians such as St. Augustine, it comes from an otherwise undistinguished German Lutheran theologian of the early seventeenth century, Rupertus Meldenius. "How is it possible that the gospel should be credible, that people should come to believe that the power which has the last word in human affairs is represented by a man hanging on a cross? I am suggesting that the only answer, the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it." - Lesslie Newbigin What's a Christian Anyway? by Glen Packiam

On 9th April 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was killed in Flossenbürg concentration camp. A German Lutheran pastor and theologian, he was imprisoned for his opposition to the Nazis during the 1930s and 40s. 80 years on, Bonhoeffer's writings, especially his reflections on the Sermon on the Mount and what this means for discipleship, remain as inspirational as ever. Join Andreas Loewe and Paula Gooder as they discuss Bonhoeffer's enduring legacy and impact. The Very Revd Dr Andreas Loewe is Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne. His book, written with Dr Katherine Firth, 'Journey with Bonhoeffer: Six Steps on the Path of Discipleship' is available in the UK at https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780647532928 Dr Paula Gooder is Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, London.

Song propelled Morris Stuart from his early life shepherding sheep in British Guyana to an unlikely love story in London. In his retirement, he found himself shaping a choir of Central Australian Aboriginal women, who had been breathing life into 138-year-old Lutheran hymns.Morris Stuart met his Australian wife, Barbara in London in the 1960s.The pair led a youth group attached to a nearby church, and initially tried to ignore their growing feelings for each other.Morris was a young, Guyanese activist who was descended from African slaves, and wasn't ready to face the social reality of marrying across racial lines.Morris and Barb fell in love and married several years before the film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? was released, and featured at several screenings in London, where community members could ask them questions as a real life, interracial couple.The couple went on to have four children and moved to Australia, where Morris became a pastor with a community church in Melbourne.In their retirement, Morris and Barbara developed relationships with the Warlpiri community in Central Australia. They arrived in Alice Springs in 2005 and Morris started recruiting for a choir.More Indigenous communities started joining in and Morris formed the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's choir.They performed hymns brought by German Lutheran missionaries to the region in the late 19th Century, which were translated into Pitjantjatjara and Western Arrernte.The choir's biggest achievement is a tour to Germany in 2015 — to perform the hymns that had all but vanished from use in Germany, but have been preserved in the Central Australian desert for 138 years.Follow the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir on Facebook.Watch the documentary about the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir tour to Germany, The Song Keepers. This episode of Conversations touches on heritage, epic life story, origin stories, church, personal stories, childhood and reflection.

image: Adolph Hoenecke from the host's family photo collection.In this WELS 175th episode, we talk with Prof. James Danell who teaches German at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN, about Adolph Hoenecke, who taught for many decades at the Wisconsin Synod's Seminary.  Prof. Danell speaks in this episode about his significant influence on the spirit and theology of the Wisconsin Synod.Not only does Danell teach the German language, but his advanced classes read through German Lutheran materials from the Reformation through the 19th and 20th century American Lutheran theologians.  His students, therefore, get to sharpen their German skills, study theology, and learn Church History--all at the same time!You can support the Confessional Language Scholarship here.Support the show Confessional Languages Scholarship Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers) Facebook Website Interview Request Form email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com About the Host Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute. Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.

This episode of Spotlights features the Rev. Dr. Lisa Dahill, Miriam Therese Winter Chair for Transformative Leadership and Spirituality and Director of the Center for Transformative Spirituality at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. We talk about her personal and professional engagement with ecological theology, her study of the German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the liturgical and ritual practices involved in rewilding Christianity, and much more.

What prompted early Lutheran immigrants to move to Australia? The Rev. Thomas Pietsch, Assistant Professor of Theology at Concordia University Wisconsin, joins Andy and Sarah for the second episode in our series on Australian Lutheranism to talk about why German Lutherans immigrated to Australia in 1838, how these early immigrants settled into the land, where early Lutheran churches were established, and the mission work that began among Indigenous people.  Resources in this episode: The history of the Lutheran Church in Australia: lca.org.au/our-history Lutheran Mission – Australia: lutheranmissionaustralia.org.au and facebook.com/LutheranMissionAustralia Story of Blind Moses: iadpress.com.au/products/blind-moses Finke River Mission: finkerivermission.lca.org.au All episodes in the Lutheran Mission - Australia series: kfuo.org/tag/lutheran-mission-australia As you grab your morning coffee (and pastry, let's be honest), join hosts Andy Bates and Sarah Gulseth as they bring you stories of the intersection of Lutheran life and a secular world. Catch real-life stories of mercy work of the LCMS and partners, updates from missionaries across the ocean, and practical talk about how to live boldly Lutheran. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: listener@kfuo.org.

The extraterrestrial comedy podcast where we probe 1949 events concerning one Roland Doe. Or is that Robbie Mannheim? Or was it actually in fact Ronald Edwin Hunkeler? Roland was born on the 01/06/1930 to a German Lutheran family and his life took a turn towards the dark when his play buddy aunt Harriet passed away. Harriet had allegedly introduced Roland to the occult and early in 1949 strange things begun manifesting through Roland. We are taking unexplained scratches, flying items, moving beds - the works. This case has been documented in the diary of a priest - holy evidence! Fortunately, many holy folk were on hand to held the family and a great battle may have ensued. Was it a one demon possession? Ten demons? A case of difficult mental health? All of the above? Roswell? These events went on to inspire famous book and movie The Exorcist. Alongside that, we ponder whether the fate of the universe could be decided on a game of Tiddlywinks… All that and more on this week's file.     Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/butitwasaliens   Store: https://butitwasaliens.co.uk/shop/     Probe us: Email: butitwasaliens@gmail.com Instagram/Threads @ ButItWasAliens Twitter @ ButItWasAliens Facebook: @ ButItWasAliens - join Extraterrestrial Towers     Music:  Music created via Garageband. Additional music via: https://freepd.com - thank you most kindly good people.     Sources: All That is Interesting: https://allthatsinteresting.com/roland-doe-the-exorcist-true-story   Saint Louis University article entitled Exorcism Expose: https://www.slu.edu/universitas/archive/2014/exorcism.php

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in 1906, and was a German Lutheran pastor, a figure noted in the theological world for his neo-orthodox views, and his most popular book, The Cost of Discipleship.  Bonhoeffer is more widely remembered as an anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church which opposed the Nazis.  In the 1940s, Bonhoeffer joined the German underground, but was arrested and incarcerated at Tegel Prison, where he remained for over a year. However, In 1945, documents were discovered that named Bonhoeffer among the dissidents and orders for his execution were made directly by Hitler himself.  Bonhoeffer received no fair trial and had no lawyer to defend him. To humiliate him, Bonhoeffer was marched in the nude to his gallows with a few other victims, although the time for execution may have been drawn out and all the more traumatic. According to one source, Nazis were known to interrupt a hanging, revive the victim, and then continue the process repeatedly before final execution. Today Dietrich Bonhoeffer is considered a hero. The question posed in this brief episode is, why is Bonhoeffer a hero for so many, but John Brown is not?

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“There is a strain of loneliness infecting many Christians, which only the presence of God can cure.” “…blessing come[s] to the church when we stop looking at a picture of God and look at God Himself…when, no longer satisfied just to know about a God in history, we meet…Him in living, personal experience.... We desperately need a divine visitation—for our situation will never be cured by sermons! It will never be cured until the Church of Christ has suddenly been confronted with what one man called the mysterium tremendum—the fearful mystery that is God, the fearful majesty that is God. This is what the Holy Spirit does. He brings the wonderful mystery that is God to us, and presents Him to the human spirit.”~A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) pastor, author, and magazine editor “The holy is hidden and veiled; we cannot grasp it with our intellect, but only approach it with awe and wonder.”~Rudolf Otto (1869-1937), German Lutheran theologian and philosopher “There is an experiential knowledge of God that profoundly changes a person from the inside out. God is known in the soul in such an overwhelming way that it affects a person's entire perception of life.”~Conrad Mbewe, founding chancellor of African Christian University in Zambia “It is easier for us to get to know God than to know our own soul...God is nearer to us than our own soul, for He is the ground in which it stands....”~Julian of Norwich (c.1343-1416), English anchoress “A believer longs after God, to come into his presence, to feel his love, to feel near to him in secret…. Ah! dear brethren, have you ever tasted this blessedness? There is greater rest and solace to be found in the presence of God for one hour than in an eternity of the presence of man.”~Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-1843), minister in the Church of Scotland “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.”~C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), writer and literary scholar “Peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God.”~Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910), Scottish minister SERMON PASSAGEPsalm 114 (ESV)Psalm 1141 When Israel went out from Egypt,  the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,2 Judah became his sanctuary,  Israel his dominion. 3 The sea looked and fled;  Jordan turned back.4 The mountains skipped like rams,  the hills like lambs. 5 What ails you, O sea, that you flee?  O Jordan, that you turn back?6 O mountains, that you skip like rams?  O hills, like lambs? 7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,  at the presence of the God of Jacob,8 who turns the rock into a pool of water,  the flint into a spring of water. Jeremiah 23 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.Acts 17 28 …‘In him we live and move and have our being'… Psalm 1397 Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!  If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!9  If I take the wings of the morning  and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,10 even there your hand shall lead me,  and your right hand shall hold me. John 7 37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Lyman Stone addresses Former President Jerry Kieschnick's 12 reasons for  membership decline in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. We take a heartfelt look at the challenges Kieschnick faced and emphasize the crucial need for conversations filled with love and truth when discussing church governance, mission focus, and theological concerns.In our discussion, we reveal how demographic trends such as low birth rates and youth retention have led to a generational decline in LCMS membership. With retention rates plummeting from 90% to 40%, and the fading ethnic solidarity among German Lutherans, the church faces unprecedented challenges. We explore the necessity of forging a new cultural identity to maintain cohesion within the church community. By examining the parable of the sower and the potent influence of contemporary culture on children, we highlight the urgent need for unity and proactive strategies, including encouraging higher birth rates among members, to address these demographic hurdles. Don't miss this enlightening episode filled with  practical analysis and solutions for the future of the LCMS.#####Life, Money, and More A Podcast Built for those who want to make their Money, and Life Better Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify All Business. No Boundaries.Welcome to All Business. No Boundaries, a collection of supply chain stories by DHL...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify All of Life for GodThe All of Life for God podcast is an engaging and thoughtful collection of exclusive...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Create Harmony This is a podcast about setting an intentional rhythm, savoring life's blessings and ...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the Show.Visit uniteleadership.org

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor who spoke out against Nazi Germany and ultimately died in a concentration camp.  He wrote in one of his books, “Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than evil. Against stupidity we have no defense.” What he stood against almost 80 years ago is still relevant today. Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.toddhuffshow.com Stack of Stuff: https://www.toddhuffshow.com/stack-of-stuff Email: todd@toddhuffshow.comPhone: 317.210.2830Follow us on…Instagram: @toddhuffshowFacebook: The Todd Huff ShowTwitter: @toddhuffshowLinkedIn: The Todd Huff ShowTikTok: @toddhuffshowSupport Our Partners:https://www.toddhuffshow.com/partners Links:https://www.mypillow.com/todd Promo Code: TODDhttps://mystore.com/toddhttps://faith-lit.com Promo Code: TODD for 15% offhttps://harvardgoldgroup.com Promo Code: TODD for $250 credithttps://www.nicnac.com - Promo Code TODD for 15% off your first purchasehttps://soltea.com - Promo Code TODD for $29.95 off your first orderhttps://zstacklife.com/todd - Promo Code TODD for 15% off your order

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor who spoke out against Nazi Germany and ultimately died in a concentration camp.  He wrote in one of his books, “Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than evil. Against stupidity we have no defense.” What he stood against almost 80 years ago is still relevant today. Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.toddhuffshow.com Stack of Stuff: https://www.toddhuffshow.com/stack-of-stuff Email: todd@toddhuffshow.comPhone: 317.210.2830Follow us on…Instagram: @toddhuffshowFacebook: The Todd Huff ShowTwitter: @toddhuffshowLinkedIn: The Todd Huff ShowTikTok: @toddhuffshowSupport Our Partners:https://www.toddhuffshow.com/partners Links:https://www.mypillow.com/todd Promo Code: TODDhttps://mystore.com/toddhttps://faith-lit.com Promo Code: TODD for 15% offhttps://harvardgoldgroup.com Promo Code: TODD for $250 credithttps://www.nicnac.com - Promo Code TODD for 15% off your first purchasehttps://soltea.com - Promo Code TODD for $29.95 off your first orderhttps://zstacklife.com/todd - Promo Code TODD for 15% off your order

As Lutherans continue to form synods in America, what is the story of the Ohio Synod, and how did American Protestantism begin to have a poor influence on Lutherans? Why were the German Lutherans so concerned about retaining the German language? Hear these stories and the history of the meetings leading up to the First Convention of The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States. Rev. Dr. Cameron A. MacKenzie, Professor of Historical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, joins Andy and Sarah for our nine-episode series on the History of the LCMS. Find more from Dr. Mackenzie at video.ctsfw.edu.

••• Access to Divine Presence . ••• Bible Study Verses: Genesis 1:26-29, Jeremiah 33:3, Daniel 3:24-25, Isaiah 43:1-2, Psalm 114:1-8, Exodus 33:15, I Peter 5:8, I Samuel 2:9, Psalm 114:7-8, Matthew 6:33, Psalm 91:1-16, Exodus 14:14, Psalm 23:1, Habakkuk 1:13, Romans 7:23, I Peter 5:8, II Corinthians 5:17, Peter 1:15-16, Romans 12:11-12, Hebrews 6:12 . ••• “One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity”, Albert Schweitzer, 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965, German Lutheran minister, theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and missionary physician .••• “...And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus”, Ephesians 2.6, MSB .••• What is the overcomers' life? ••• What are 4-reasons why overcomers overcome? ••• What are the 3-secrets of the overcomer's life? ••• Why did fire lose it's power? ••• What are the 6-reasons why 4th-man presence is so important in an overcomer's life? ••• What are 7-life actions in cultivating the presence of the Almighty God? ••• What are 8-postive results of cultivating the presence of the Almighty God? ••• What are 3-factors that can make cultivating the presence of the Almighty God difficult? ••• What are the 5-characteristics of one who can cultivate the presence of the Almighty God? ••• Are you going to ask your small group to pray that you will be the kind of person who more intentionally cultivate the presence of the Almighty God through the power of Holy Spirit? ••• Pastor Godwin Otuno expounds on this and much more on the exciting journey of Fresh Encounters Radio Podcast originally aired on January 20, 2024 on WNQM, Nashville Quality Ministries and WWCR World Wide Christian Radio broadcasted to all 7-continents on this big beautiful blue marble, earth, floating through space. Please be prayerful before studying The Word of God so that you will receive the most inspiration possible .••• This Discipleship Teaching Podcast is brought to you by Christian Leadership International and all the beloved of God who believe in it's mission through prayer and support. Thank you .••• SHARING LINK: https://shows.acast.com/fresh-encounter-radio-podcast/240120-divine-presence-ep312-3-of-4 .••• Exceeding Thanks to Universe Creator Christ Jesus AND photos by Andrew Ruiz Photography, Mesa, Arizona, https://www.andrew-ruiz.com/ , https://www.instagram.com/andrew.r.ruiz/ , https://www.behance.net/andrewruiz AND www.hotpot.ai. Art Direction by gil on his mac with free mac layout software .••• † https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/albert_schweitzer_155978 .••• Study Guides at - https://shows.acast.com/fresh-encounter-radio-podcast/episodes .••• Broadcaster's Website - https://www.lifelonganointing.com/ .••• RESOURCE - https://www.soundcloud.com/thewaytogod/ .••• RESOURCE - https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/kjv/john.1%20 .••• FERP240120 Episode#312 GOT240120Ep312 .••• Living The Overcomer's Life ~ Access to Divine Presence .Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/fresh-encounter-radio-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Rev. David Boisclair, senior Pastor at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Overland, MO, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study the hymn, “Away in a Manger.” Flip the page in your Lutheran Service Book to hymn 365: “Away in a Manger.” The history behind this hymn is muddled. Some believed it was written by Martin Luther, but most historians attribute its origin to German Lutherans in Pennsylvania around 1885. In this episode, we will explore what we know about this simple, poignant hymn and hold up what it teaches against the Scriptures. Learn more: hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/365 Celebrate the birth of our Savior with Thy Strong Word's Countdown to Christmas, a special series where we explore 10 of the most beloved Christmas hymns found in the Lutheran Service Book. Learn the history and meaning of these beautiful carols and how they reflect the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each weekday we dive into every stanza of these classic hymns and discover the rich theology and joy it expresses. Don't miss this opportunity to prepare your hearts to receive Christ anew and rejoice with Thy Strong Word: Countdown to Christmas. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God's Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Through the mission gifts of people like you, LHF translates, publishes, distributes and introduces books that are Bible-based, Christ-centered and Reformation-driven. Learn more at lhfmissions.org. Lutheran Service Book 365 1 Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head. The stars in the bright sky looked down where He lay, The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. 2 The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes. I love Thee, Lord Jesus! Look down from the sky, And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh. 3 Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask Thee to stay Close by me forever and love me, I pray. Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care, And take us to heaven to live with Thee there. Text Information First Line: Away in a manger, no crib for a bed Title: Away in a Manger Meter: 11 11 11 11 Language: English Publication Date: 2006 Scripture: Luke 2:7; Mark 10:14-16; Matthew 1:23; Matthew 28:20 Source: Little Children's book, Philadelphia, 1855 (Sts. 1-2); Vineyard Songs Louisville, 1892 (St. 3, alt.) Tune Information Name: CRADLE SONG Composer: William J. Kirkpatrick, 1838-1921 Arranger: James E. Engel, 1925-89 Meter: 11 11 11 11 Key: F Major Copyright: Setting © 1993 Mrs. James E. Engel Learn more: hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/365

Bach's first church works were anything but plain and dull. Untouched by Italian style, firmly in German Lutheran tradition, this very first known Bach cantata shines and surprises at every turn through its mazy passages.  This is the second part in a two-part miniseries on the masterwork BWV 150 (Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich). See the previous podcast episode for part 1. In this episode, we discuss the last three movements: the shaking trees of the trio (Cedern müssen von den Winden), the frantic escaping of the net in the chorus (Meine Augen sehen stets), and the towering final Ciaccona. In this episode, we reference Bach's most famous choral works. We see how in his early works he was more experimental, and we explore how the seeds of his later masterworks are yet already there.    BWV 150 as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society (recordings used with permission in this episode) Musical score to BWV 150 referenced in this podcast miniseries

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential and his book The Cost of Discipleship is described as a modern classic. To learn more about his life and renewal legacy, hear from Pastor Nicholas Abraham, Lead Pastor of Reformation Bible Church in Navarre, Ohio, and author of Living Together in Unity with Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Lexham Press, 2023). 

The idea of a pastor living out his vocation on a bicycle may sound eccentric, but Michael Stahl, a German Lutheran pastor, is convinced that it's fully in line with the gospels. "If Jesus were out and about today,” he says, "I'm certain he'd use a bicycle.” Stahl is not only a man of the cloth but an enthusiastic cyclist.

Image: Three generations of Franks and Kerlers in Greenfield 1889."I prefer America," one German Lutheran immigrant wrote. Letters of German Lutheran immigrants in 19th century America give under-analyzed perspectives of lay members and their views of church establishment and denominational selection.Support the show Lutheran History Shop Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers) Facebook Website Interview Request Form About the Host email:thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com

Image: Regina, Veronica and Frank Kerler"I prefer America," one German Lutheran immigrant wrote. Letters of German Lutheran immigrants in 19th century America give under-analyzed perspectives of lay members and their views of church establishment and denominational selection.Support the show Lutheran History Shop Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers) Facebook Website Interview Request Form About the Host email:thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com

Quizmasters Lee and Marc meet for a semi-Holiday-themed trivia quiz with topics including Christmas Traditions, U.S. Holidays, Cartoon Characters, Vegetables, Star Wars, Medical, Etymology and more! Round One CARTOON CHARACTERS - Gumble is the last name of what Simpsons character? CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS - What Christmas tradition was first developed by German Lutherans in the 1700s as a celebration of the liturgical season? VEGETABLES - Alpha, Nevada and Snow Crown are types of which vegetable? U.S. HOLIDAYS - Which holiday originated in the U.S. in the wake of the L.A. Watts riots and whose seven principles include unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith? ETYMOLOGY - The word wiki, as in Wikipedia, means 'quick' in what language? STAR WARS - After meeting the Sith Lord for a photo in 1977, which singer introduced herself to Star Wars actor Mark Hamill as “Darth Vader's Wife”, but left her San Franciscan rock group before they famously performed “Light the Sky on Fire” during the cult-classic Star Wars Holiday Special? Round Two PARTIES - What kind of holiday party first took place in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2000, setting off an annual trend for decades to come? 2010'S TELEVISION - What TV show that premiered in 2017 has had episodes including "Cape Canaveral, Schrödinger's Cat, and Cyndi Lauper's Hair", "An 8-Bit Princess and a Flat Tire Genius" and "Graduation"? CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS - Mari Lwyd is a Southern Welsh Christmas Time tradition where townsfolk go from door to door requesting food and drink through song, while wearing the skeleton of what kind of animal SCIENCE - The Koppen-Geiger system, first developed in 1884, with modifications made by both scientists, is ud to classify what? MEDICAL - According to the American Association for Anatomy's Anatomical Science Education Journal, The Twelve Days of Christmas Song is "Ingrained in medical school folk law" as a mnemonic device to help remember which twelve parts of the brain? NFL - How many regular season games does each team play in the NFL? Rate My Question MOVIES - Edgar Wright's Cornetto Trilogy consists of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End. Name the color that represents each film, per the director. Final Questions TECHNOLOGY - What were the first man-made objects to break the sound barrier? CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS - In Catalonia, it is a Christmas tradition to include a joke figurine called a caganer in their nativity scenes. What is the caganer doing in the nativity scene? Upcoming LIVE Know Nonsense Trivia Challenges *GENIUS WEEK* December 28th, 2022 - Know Nonsense Challenge - Point Ybel Brewing Co. - 7:30 pm EST December 29th, 2022 - Know Nonsense Trivia Challenge - Ollie's Pub Records and Beer - 7:30 pm EST You can find out more information about that and all of our live events online at KnowNonsenseTrivia.com All of the Know Nonsense events are free to play and you can win prizes after every round. Thank you Thanks to our supporters on Patreon. Thank you, Quizdaddies – Gil, Tim, Tommy, Adam, Brandon, Blake Thank you, Team Captains – Kristin & Fletcher, Aaron, Matthew, David Holbrook, Mo, Lydia, Rick G, Skyler Thank you, Proverbial Lightkeepers – Elyse, Kaitlynn, Frank, Trent, Nina, Justin, Katie, Ryan, Robb, Captain Nick, Grant, Ian, Tim Gomez, Rachael, Moo, Rikki, Nabeel, Jon Lewis, Adam, Lisa, Spencer, Hank, Justin P., Cooper, Sarah, Karly, Lucas, Mike K., Cole, Adam, Caitlyn H, Sam, Spencer, Stephen, Cameron Thank you, Rumplesnailtskins – Mike J., Mike C., Efren, Steven, Kenya, Dallas, Issa, Paige, Allison, Kevin & Sara, Alex, Loren, MJ, HBomb, Aaron, Laurel, FoxenV, Sarah, Edsicalz, Megan, brandon, Chris, Alec, Sai, Nathan, Tim, Andrea, Ian, Aunt Kiki, Clay, Littlestoflambs, Seth If you'd like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content, please visit http://theknowno.com and click "Support."

Disciple Up # 289 Where Did American Christmas Traditions Come From? By Louie Marsh 12-21-2022   Older Christmas Episodes You Might Want to Listen to:   34 – What is Christmas All About 87- The non-Pagan Roots of Christmas 88 – Christ IS In X-Mas   https://broward.us/2022/12/14/unitarians-and-episcopalians-created-american-christmas/   Unitarians and Episcopalians Created American Christmas But evangelicals have rightly made it more gospel centered. DANIEL K. WILLIAMS | DECEMBER 14, 2022   Conservative evangelical Christians have sometimes been eager advocates of the modern campaign to “keep Christ in Christmas” and preserve the traditional religious meaning of the holiday.   There's one major problem with this campaign: The original religious message behind the American Christmas was not evangelical at all.   Instead, it was the creation of Unitarians, Episcopalians, and other liberal Protestants who had little interest in several key tenets of the evangelical understanding of the gospel.   Those of us who are evangelical in our faith can still have a merry Christmas. But if we want to do so in a way that foregrounds the gospel, we may have to discover a new approach to the holiday that does more than simply preserve the old.   …As Penne Restad describes in Christmas in America: A History, early 19th-century New England Congregationalist children whose parents ignored Christmas marveled when the Episcopalians in their towns wrapped their church buildings in garlands of greenery and gathered to sing on Christmas morning. Some of them expressed a longing for a little of this Christmas cheer. The yearning became more acute when German Lutheran immigrants brought new Christmas traditions to America—especially the Christmas tree and Santa Claus.   …Evangelicals who believe in the gospel of the Incarnation cannot therefore find much comfort in public campaigns to replace “Happy Holidays” with “Merry Christmas” or set up creches in the town square. What we need is not a return to the 1950s or even the Victorian era but rather a recovery of wonder at the incarnate God coming to earth in the form of a baby in order to save humanity.   Daniel K. Williams is a professor of history at the University of West Georgia and the author of Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe v. Wade.    

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller   Let's talk about it. 

It's now December and people start counting down the days until Christmas. A few of them mark off the days on their paper calendars but many use an advent calendar instead because it's a fun and entertaining (and occasionally a delicious) way to count off the days!Traditionally though, advent calendars have been religious and were first used by German Lutherans in the 19th century to acknowledge the start of the Christian season of preparation for the nativity of Christ at Christmas. Calendars were made of wood and included religious images on the outside, with bible verses inside each box.But now, they are popular for religious and non-religious people (and even those who don't celebrate Christmas)! There are many different types of calendars to choose from including chocolate, cheese, tea, wine, and even socks! And of course, there is one for coffee!In episode 77, Genny spoke about her first coffee advent calendar in 2021. It was a suggestion made by her daughter Crystal that started the process of creating that calendar, which Genny spoke about in detail. A total of 18 local coffee roasters participated in the calendar, with a few roasters filling more than one “day” for a total of 25 days of coffee! It prompted her to re-evaluate the process about how she could streamline the process to make it less labour intensive and more efficient.Based on her findings, she completely revamped the look and feel of the calendar for 2022. This year, she included 24 different local coffee roasters with 24 different coffees. She increased the amount of coffee per day from 14g in 2021 to 50g in 2022.Genny shared how important it was to work with and support local businesses, and would like to acknowledge and thank them for their involvement in the coffee advent calendar: Mid-West Packaging, Labels Unlimited, All Nations Print, Winnipeg U-Drive, Sturgeon Heights Community Centre, Equip Wellness Collective, Trails End Coffee, Varundeep Singh and Stephanie Robinson.She would also like to thank the following coffee roasters: Apple Blossom Farm, Black Pearl Coffee, Bricolage Coffee Roasters, Colossimo Coffee Roasters, Cornerstone Coffee, Crowded Table Coffee Roasters, De Luca's, Empty Cup Collective, Flatland Coffee Roasters, Forbidden Flavours, Garage 41 Coffee Co, Hitch and Boler Coffee Roasters, J & A Farms, Jacked Up Jill Coffee, Mugging Whales Coffee, Negash Coffee, Railway Roasters, Rhombus Coffee, Scott Creek Roastery, Stewart Coffee, Stone City Coffee Roasters, Sunstone Coffee, and Trails End Coffee.Follow Genny on Instagram at @coffeewithgennybIf you like this episode, buy Genny a coffee athttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/coffeewithgennySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You can find more on Rob McCoy and Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Californiahttps://www.godspeak.com/home-index/https://rumble.com/v1mexz2-faith-without-works-is-dead-eric-metaxas.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/Letter-American-Church-Eric-Metaxas/dp/1684513898/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=letters+to+the+american+church+book&qid=1666029645&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjg2IiwicXNhIjoiMC41NSIsInFzcCI6IjAuMzEifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-1Gary Duncan  0:43  Welcome to remnant revolution. I'm your host, Gary Duncan. And today, I think this is probably one of the most important podcast you need to listen to. If you're unaware of what's going on in our country, and how the church is staying silent, then this might open your eyes, I think every Christian and pastor to take the time to listen to what Eric TaskUs has to say, I just finished reading his book letter to the American church. And I ran out of EAC, marking it up with the comments. So mirror my own thoughts over these last several years regarding the state of the church, the state of pulpits today. And what we need to do about it, you've always heard, if you forget your history, you're bound to repeat it. Well, I think we're there. I think if the church doesn't wake up, we're going to see the slaughter of millions upon millions of innocent people, maybe not in the same way history has shown us but in a new way. And if you've been awake during the 2020, COVID, biological weapon that has been forced upon this world, you have already seen millions of people die. So I want to replay a message he gave to God speak church in California, Rob McCoy, his church out there, they keep their sheep up to date on what's going on. The best way to describe his book is a comparison between the Lutheran Church in Germany in the 1930s, to the American church in the 2022. And earlier, the similarities are stark, the action taken by the church is appalling. And the future of the church is written in history. So I suggest you open your hearts and you listen and ask the question, what's next? What do we do? What's the Bible say? Because our future depends on it. Eric Mataxas  2:44  We're dealing with joy. Joy is like, you know, deep and beautiful. And Lord wants us to live in that right when when you understand what the Lord did on the cross, giving his body and his blood for us. There is a deep joy, an unfathomable joy that comes out of that. And the question is through history that the church has always leaned into that joy, if you know what I mean, right? It's a it's our it's our human nature, our sin nature, to just go through the motions, maybe to come up with some theology and go like you agree with that? Yep, yep, yep. Okay, you're in fine, good. That's what Bonhoeffer called cheap grace, right? And you see this over and over it through history. In fact, even before the church, you see this, obviously, in the Old Testament, that the prophets rise up to Thunder at the people of God calling them to be the people of God, right. So you see this over and over. And it's the mystery of why the Lord allows things to go that way. But I believe we are now on the verge of a second reformation. When I say that reformation, when you really think about what Luther did it all it is, is what God wants to do all the time, which is to say, Bring us deeper into walking with him, right? And to say, like, Okay, you did this for a while, but now, you need more, right? You need to live out your faith. And so I think, part of what I want to talk about this morning, which I think concerns the American church and letter to the American church, it's exactly what Bonhoeffer was talking about, in 1932. In fact, he gave a famous sermon, Reformation Day 1932. So it's like two months and change before Hitler takes power. And he's speaking to this church and trying to make them understand that, you know, you kind of you have the form and substance down. But that's not what God's looking for. He's looking at your heart. He wants you to be alive to him and you're kind of going through the motions and a lot of people in the American church today who are being silent in the face of evil In the same way that German pastors and Christians were being silent in the face of evil. And what I write about in this book, letter to the American church is to say, we know exactly what happened. Bonhoeffer was a prophetic voice trying to warn the German church. There were others, but he was the main one. They did not heed God's cry through God's servant Bonhoeffer. So the question is, will the American church today, heed God's cry through his sir servant Bonhoeffer? Will we hear what Bonhoeffer had to say that the German church ignored? And I'm here to say, mostly, the church in America has been silent in the face of evil in exactly the same way the German church was silent in the face of evil, but we have less than zero excuse. Because we have the example of the German church. We have many, many Americans have read my book on Bonhoeffer, you just like you want to see how that goes. When the Church says, Not yet. We're not ready to talk yet. We don't want to be political Romans 13 We can't get we can't get politically and we can't get involved. Every bad theological reason that German Christians gave for their silence is being used today by those in the American church, the same reasons, the same answers. I mean, you hear a lot from people about well, that's not a that's not a gospel related issue. Right. Well, that's sophistry, these are lies from the pit of hell when you start talking like that. Okay. Do you not think that in America during slavery times, there were plenty of people saying like, we don't want to speak out against slavery, we don't really want to be pro abolition, because we have people in our congregations who would be bothered by that. So we can let the African slaves go to hell, we don't care about them. We care about the people in our in our congregations that they might get pushed away from the gospel if we bring up that divisive issue. And you think, Well, what dead gospel? are you preaching? If you cannot speak the truth about the wickedness of slavery? Am I interested in whatever thin pseudo gospel you have to preach? But there are many people that they're very focused on this quote, unquote, gospel, but I want to say, what is that gospel that you're preaching when when Jesus said that, you know, better that a millstone would be hung around your neck than that you would cause these little ones to stumble? That wasn't really very gospel sensitive Jesus? You know, I'm sure if Jesus were alive today, he would correct that terrible error. He would never say anything so harsh, right? Oh, sorry. We're talking about Jesus, who was perfect. He spoke about things that many today would act like, well, I'm holier than that. I wouldn't bring that kind of a thing up. I don't know. It could push some people away. Well, folks, you should care about not wanting to push people away. Like that's, that's a good thing. But you can care too much. You can care so much that you're disobedient to what God is calling you to open your mouth about. So if you do not care about young women, being bullied and badgered by propaganda, to cut off their own breasts and destroy their lives, if you don't love them, the way Jesus loves them and speak the truth into the culture that's doing that to them. The Lord will hold you accountable for that, in the same way that he held Americans accountable who said, Why don't want to speak about slavery, because we have some pro slavery people in our congregation. And they're good people, except for the slavery part. Yeah, like today, we laugh because we know how crazy that is. But back then they were like, well, who's to say it's complicated. In Germany, people were telling Bonhoeffer to shut up don't get political. You know, there's plenty Nazis in every congregation. And some of them are really bad, but some of them are good. And they've it's complicated. Don't speak against that. Bonhoeffer ultimately became profoundly disgusted. I quote him in this book letter to the American church where he says, he was he was disgusted with the theological of theologically based objections that a lot of these pastors and people had theologically based what you know, if you're the devil, you want to come up with theologically based objections for your satanic ideas, to fool some of the Christians into being silent. And Bonhoeffer says, which is, after all, nothing but fear. It is fear. So so people give these reasons and they can fool many people. There's a new book out, it came out, just as my book was sent to the to the printer or to the publisher. I got a letter. Sorry, I got I got a package in the mail in my home in New York. From Zondervan, Because I'm like an influencer, so they want me to see what they're publishing. And yeah, if you want to know how bad things are like a lot of these Christian publishers, a lot of these folks, they they're, they've slid into the dark side. So they published a book by Pastor Andy Stanley. And the book is called not in it to win it. Okay. And every lie has truth in it, right? So no, we're not supposed to be cultural warriors trying to be triumphalist theocrats trying to you know, crush the culture with our idea of Jesus. No, no, but I think most of us get that. Okay. If you have a friend who's who's on board with that, you'd be the first one to say no, sorry. We're not We're not about that. But the point is, if you're going to tell me, Oh, I shouldn't be political. I shouldn't have a voice. That's what they said to Bonhoeffer. They said, stay in your little theological lane. Don't speak up for the Jews. And Bonhoeffer said no, if you do not speak up for the Jews, you have no right to worship God Bonhoeffer wrote that, he says, You have no right, keep your mouth shut. Do not praise the God who is the God of the Jews, and who appointed you as the church to be the voice for the voiceless. That is your job. And if you're not doing that, shut up, get in your prayer closet and get right with God, but do not pretend to say I have faith when the Lord sees you have no faith because you keep your mouth shut in the face of satanic evil. But the project but but the objections were the same. The objections were the same as they are today. They will say Romans 13 is supposed to be the governing authorities, right, you know, bow to Nebuchadnezzar, like whatever it is just like keep your mouth shut and just obey the governing theories are put in place by God, Romans 13. So it's very clear. Well, it's obviously not very clear. There's more of the Bible than Romans 13 One. And the fact is, if you're looking for an excuse, it's very convenient. You just saw Romans 13. Luther was big on Romans 13. And so all the German Lutherans were like that settled. Well, it was not settled. You need discernment. You need wisdom. What are what are we living through right now? The Lord calls us to take our faith into every single sphere imaginable. My hero Chuck Colson always used to quote, Abraham Kuyper, the Dutch theologian and every speech Chuck would give, he would quote Kuyper, Kuyper said, you know, about 120 years ago, Kuyper said, There's not one square inch of all creation, over which Jesus Christ who is sovereign does not say mine. Everything, politics, education, media, wherever you go, the Lord wants us to take him into those places. And that, to me, is what reformation is all about, right? It's like the leaven is supposed to go all the way through the lump. And so why did it take the church so long to discover this 15 centuries before Luther, in a sense, bring some of these ideas out into European culture? Why did it take 15 centuries? I don't know. We have to ask the Lord when we get there, Lord, why didn't that happen right away. But it didn't. The Lord lets these things work their way through history. Why did it take to Wilberforce at the end of the 18th century? To see from the scriptures like slavery is an abomination from the pit of hell. And if you're a Christian, you need to stand against this with all your might. And mein. Why did it take so long? Well, it might have taken a long time. But the point is, at some point, somebody got it, and somebody started talking about it. And there were always voices to say, no, no, shut up. You're wrong. You're wrong. That's political William Wilberforce. Don't be don't be, don't be political. Keep your faith private, from your from your politics. And the Lord doesn't make those distinctions. The devil makes those distinctions. And when people tell you, Oh, you're just being political, you know, that's like standing against slavery. And so he's really just being political. It's like, No, I'm commanded by my lord to stand up for those who have no voice. I'm commanded to stand up for the stranger. I'm commanded to speak the truth. So where do you get your idea that I'm supposed to keep my faith in this tiny little theological box? That's not a biblical idea. But it's out there in the culture. And so I remember getting this book in the mail from Zondervan by Andy Stanley basically making the case that if you're involved politically, it's divisive. And you're just a culture warrior. And you're now of course, if you're involved in the right stuff, he will have no criticism. But if you're involved, anything that might be pro Trump or pro liberty or or any of that stuff, it's like, you're being political, right? So I read the book, I forced myself to read the book, it's unpleasant, but it's at least short. And I thought to myself, and I want to be I want to be gracious in the sense and say that, I know that a lot of the folks like Andy Stanley, they're like, the German pastors in that day in the sense that many of them know not what they do. They have no idea so it's very easy for us to point the finger. You know, at some point, we have to point the finger and say That's wrong. That's bad. Teaching that's dark, it's leading America to hell. And it's going to make people suffer for whom Jesus died. If we the church do not rise up, the Lord has pointed us to rise up. But the point is that we have to understand that some of these people, they're just misguided. But the problem is, I then go on the Amazon web page for the book, and I see a big blurb from Jim Daly, a Focus on the Family promoting this book. And I thought the book is published by Zondervan. That's where we are ladies and gentlemen, people that I would think of as friends, or they used to be friends. And these are the kinds of people that you know, they are not openly serving the devil. They are just confused and misguided in going with the flow. Like many German pastors, they were just going with the flow. The question is, can we reach them? Before it's too late? Can we reach some of them? Before it's too late, I absolutely wrote this book, this short book, hoping to reach those who might be reached, we know some will never be reached, they don't want to be reached, they've got it all figured out. But there are many in the middle, that I believe might see the error of their ways and might see that their silence in the face of evil has been silenced in the face of evil. It's exactly the same as the silence of the German pastors in the face of evil. And some of them, I believe, will repent of their silence and say, Okay, now I'm going to speak up now in Germany. In Bonhoeffer his day, one of the heroes of my Bonhoeffer book is Martin de Mohler. Marni Miller was one of the ones who was going with the flow, he really believed that we don't need to speak against the Nazis. He was now he was a heroic World War One military hero, an incredible pastor and a big, powerful church, but he was deceived. And eventually, he saw that he was deceived. He had a meeting with Hitler, where Hitler basically told him, you know, going along with the theological script, right, Hitler says to him, you stick to your sermons. In other words, you stick to your little stupid little theological sermons in your little building on Sunday. But when you leave that building, you bow to the authority of the state, which is me, Adolf Hitler. That's when you know, oops, this is not going to go well. He is not really open to hearing the truth and I Martiny molar have made a mistake. So Martin e molar by God's grace woke up at that point, and he became a hero. But the problem is in Germany, when Martin D, Mueller woke up, it was too late. The church had been silent too long, the Nazis had been working hard to neutralize and silence the church. If the church wakes up, we're dead. So we'll keep doing whatever we need to do will bribe some of them will give them money will threaten them, you'll lose your job will shut you down, we'll do we'll do whatever we can do to neutralize the church and neutralize the church and at some point, it will be too late for them to speak up and that's what happened in Germany. I think of Gulliver being tied down by the little patients as the same picture right? You know, Gulliver, at any moment as he's sleeping, the little patients are tying him down with dental floss or whatever they're using. And if he had awakened at any point during this process, he would have ripped up the stakes and you know, crushed the Lilliputians. But if they can make sure that he continues to sleep while they're doing this, at some point, it's too late for him to get up, isn't it? That's what the Nazis did with the church in Germany. They told them what they wanted to hear. And they knew that we don't need to get everybody we just need to get enough German pastors and leaders to be silent and to do nothing. And at some point, we got them. Now so you understand the numbers because it's dramatically similar similar in this country in terms of the representatives in terms of the percentage. In Germany, there were 18,000 Protestant pastors, and about 3000 of them up, Hitler takes control in 33. So by 1935, the state the Nazis had so bullied, the churches and everyone that by 1935 of the 18,000 pastors, there were about 3000 Standing strong for the gospel standing with the barman declaration. I write about this all in the in the book letter to the American church. It's really amazing. 3000 stood strong. About 6000 had signed the barman declaration, but by the time you get to 1935, there had been enough bullying and badgering and arrests and whatever it is that it takes to intimidate people and some of you are very familiar with that I'm familiar with that. I've been ensued, you know, lost a lot of money. My whole YouTube channel was just destroyed because I dared to have on Naomi Wolf to discuss vaccine mandates. Can you imagine the United States of America having a conversation about the truth, but that's what we're dealing with today, right? Well, the Nazis did the same thing. And worse, they just said, this intimidate, intimidate. We're gonna we're gonna you know, what we'll send the Gestapo to knock down the doors at Mar a Lago? What do we have to do? Tell us what what do we have to do to weaponize the state to intimidate, intimidate. And by 1935, there are only 3000 of those 18,000 pastors willing to stand firmly. Now, on the other side of the 18,000, you have about 3000, that were totally pro Nazi. And we get that we have, you know, so called pastors in the church today that are 1,000% on board with cultural Marxism and the great reset and whatever it is that you know, the pit of hell is currently manifesting in our culture. But here's the key. And this is where I have the hope. In the middle. There were 12,000. Pastors, those 12,000 pastors, before we get to the hope, you got to get to the depressing part, it was those 12,000 pastors that did not take a stand with the 3000 heroes that enabled the evil to triumph. They said, well, we don't want to be political Romans 13. We don't want to take a stand for us. It's all about preaching the gospel. So we don't want to talk about you know, all of this divisive stuff, we just want to, we just want to preserve the opportunity to preach the gospel. Well, there's a chapter in the book called the idol of evangelism. Because there are times when the devil will use one of the greatest things to keep you from the greatest thing. The greatest thing is to speak God's truth as he calls you to speak it, to speak against whatever He calls you to speak. But some people say, Oh, no, I can't do that. I gotta have my quiet time right now. There's a, there's a girl being raked across the street, but you know what I'm going to do? I'm gonna pray. Who can argue with that? Right? Oh, you're gonna pray? Oh, okay. I'm going to do evangelism. Okay. Well, you understand that the subtle enemy of our souls will use any good thing, right? Oh, you're just about preaching the gospel just about gospel related issues? Well, what if the Lord says, Speak up for the Jews? And you're gonna lose some people in your congregation? What if the Lord says speak against the slave trade to William Wilberforce, most American Christians today would be like, I would be all over that I would stand with Bonhoeffer. And I would stand with William Wilberforce. And all you of course I would, but you are not doing it. Now. Right now you're being silent. And right now you are letting the 3000 Take all the heat, aren't you? And you're saying, we think we just got to keep our nose clean. We don't want to get in trouble. We want to be safe. We want to be nice. We want to go along with whatever. You know, if there's a vaccine mandate, we'll go along with that. We'll make our people take the dead baby vaccine. We don't have a problem with that. Romans 13. We just want to go along with the government. We're living in hard times, folks. You need to sermon and you need courage. But I'm here to tell you that what happened during the Reformation with Martin Luther Martin Luther had to make the case that it's by faith alone, right, we get that, right. It's by faith alone. It's not by works that were safe. We all get that right. But by the time you get to Bonhoeffer, Bonhoeffer is saying, this faith alone stuff has gone too far because faith. Faith, without works is dead. So even though it is by faith, you're saved, do you have faith? If you have faith, you will live it out. Your life will be a testimony to the fact that you know Jesus defeated death on the cross, you don't just give it lip service. So he wrote about cheap grace and cheap faith. When you say it's about faith, it's about faith, which is just a way to say like, I don't need to do anything. I can just sit on my hands. I'm gonna have my quiet time. Where's my highlighter? Where's my cup of coffee in the mug with a scripture verse on it? Because I don't really care about black people. I'll put the the black, you know, Lives Matter thing on my Facebook thing. I'll just, I'll just do whatever i i care, but I don't want to actually talk about the issues about how critical race theory is destroying black communities. I don't want to bring that up because I'm white. And you know, somebody might look at me funny. I don't want to talk about trans Gender because somebody might look at me funny, I have a neighbor who has a daughter who's got I don't want to offend them, folks, if you love the people for whom Jesus died, and if you trust that he defeated death on the cross, He will speak about these things, you will do what you can. We're not all called to be political activists. But the idea that Christian leaders particularly are misleading their flocks into silence is exactly out of the playbook of Bonhoeffer and the Nazis. It is exactly the same thing. The Lord is looking to his church now to stand against these evils. And if the church doesn't stand against these evils, trust me when I tell you, the Lord will blame the church. He is looking to his people, because his people are the ones who dare to claim, we believe he defeated death on the cross, we believe he rose from the grave, we're free. While the Lord says, Okay, if you believe that, you will live as though you believe that you can't just say you believe it. Because faith without works is dead is from the Scripture. And it's a warning to us. So we say, well, yeah, I believe, what do you believe, Oh, go to go to my church's website, there's a statement of faith. That's what I believe. That's called a fig leaf. You're not fooling anybody. If you're not living that out self sacrificially, the Lord can see, and the devil can see, and your neighbors can see, and your friends can see that. You're just talking, you don't really believe it. And the Lord will judge you on what you believe. Your real faith will save you. Your fake faith will not fool anyone and will not save you. So we have an opportunity to live out our faith in an extraordinary moment right now. And I believe the Lord has allowed these satanic things to happen in the last few years to wake up his people. And I believe largely as a result of heroes, like Rob McCoy, and other pastors that dare to invite me to their pulpits that we have hope. And there are people watching online or like they used to go to that, you know, dead Lutheran Church or wherever they used to go, and they don't go there anymore. Well, I do want to say to you, I hope some of you can think of a pastor who might be reached by my book, because they're out there, they need bucking up, they need to hear what we're hearing here. They need to know that maybe I got this wrong. Maybe I can repent, maybe I can be part of what God is doing today. I often think I know I write about it in the book that the idea of, let's say, somebody, you know, strings, a high wire across Niagara Falls and says, you know, to the crowd, does anybody believe that can walk across that? Maybe he's like, yes, yes, we believe that we believe it. And he pulls out a wheelbarrow, anybody believe I can? I can push the wheelbarrow across the crowd? You know, we'd also Yeah, absolutely. Go Go for it. And he but I believe I can I can push the window with a heavy load in it. Absolutely. Go ahead. And he's like you, sir, you believe I can do it? Yes. Get in the wheelbarrow. It's easy to say I believe. If you really believe you will live it out. God can see whether you really believe by how you behave. And we haven't heard this a lot in the American church or the American church we talked about, it's about faith. It's about faith. It's about faith. Well, I'm here to tell you, that's not scriptural, folks. Okay, if your faith is real, you're saved by your real faith. But if your faith is cheap faith, or the grace you believe in is cheap. Grace. Bonhoeffer wrote about that in cost of discipleship, cheap grace is not grace. If you understood what Jesus did to die for you, because He loves you, it transforms your life and the Lord is inviting us to live into that faith. He's saying, I want to see you get in the wheelbarrow, I want you to trust me, or to put me to the test and say, Okay, Lord, I'm gonna give up my job. I'm not going to get the vaccine, I'm gonna do whatever you call me to do, because I know that if you are who you say you are, you can get me another job. You can take care of my family, you love me. Now, I don't mean put the Lord to the test the way the Scripture says, Don't put the Lord your God to the test. But I'm saying that the Lord expects us to depend on him to lean on him to trust Him with our future. So for pastors who are worried about losing the congregation, who called you to that pulpit in the first place, was that a job that you you wriggled your way to get? Or did the Lord call you to that pulpit? Who put the people in the pew to hear what God was saying through you? Which was that you and your wisdom and your sophistry, or did the Lord do that if the Lord did that, when you speak what he calls you? to speak, he will fill your church. And if he doesn't fill your church we're supposed to trust the Lord with everything. And again, just to repeat, he defeated death on the cross. So if somebody says, Well, you know, if you don't tow the line will kill you. You know your response, if you believe, actually believe would be Haha, you can't kill me He defeated death on the cross, I will never die. We're supposed to know a lot of people kind of say, well, I hope I hope it's true. If you hope it's true, I rebuke you. You need to know the Lord wants you if you want to know what is His Will it is his will that you know that he defeated death, that you know that nothing more wonderful could ever happen to you than you would see him face to face. Now, today, tomorrow, whenever he calls you, there can be nothing greater than that we have been so coddled and blessed in America, that we kind of think Well, now it's kind of okay here. I'm not ready for that yet. I get that folks. But we need to live in that kind of faith, the kind of faith that says there is nothing more glorious than the reality of eternal life with Him. And by the way, he gives us an opportunity to start living at life. Now. If by faith were seated with Him in heavenly places, now, while we're still here, and if he hasn't translated you in the glory, it means he has a job for you here and now to live that kind of faith here and now. And that is the heroic call to which God calls his church will we hear his cry to his church, some are waking up, you know, there's a remnant by God's grace, because of churches like this and others, a remnant that is waking up in there plenty people that haven't been to churches for years, that when they see this kind of muscular Christianity, they go, you know, I can get behind that kind of Christianity. They're not afraid of speaking truth. It's not namby pamby kind of emasculated pseudo gospel, it seems real to me, those people seem to understand we're dealing with evil, we're in a spiritual war. And there's something there's something attractive about that, folks, that leads to revival. If you care about evangelism, it's not about keeping your mouth shut on hot topics. It's about opening your mouth on those hot topics and delivering the heart of God on those hot topics, and seeing how people say, finally, where have you been? Where have you been all these years? It says in the scripture, there's a parable, you know, the parable of the talents, right? I think it's a parable for us today. There's also a chapter in the book on the parable of the talents, because it's so counterintuitive. The idea is that this master has some servants, right. And these are not like, you know, they're not sweeping up around the house kind of servants. These are like major people in his kingdom or in his world. And he entrusted each of them with a ton of money, a talent is a ton of money, right? He says, I'm going on a long trip. So here, you get, you know, 1.1 million, and you get 700,000. And you get a 200,000. And I'll be back in a year. Now, if you love your master, he say, Well, I'm going to do unto him as he would do unto as I would have others do unto me. So I want to take this money, I know I can make a lot of money. With the money he's given me, I want to bless him. So I'm going to take it, and I'm going to do what I can in the markets to try to increase the money now that comes with risk. You might lose the money. But if you love your Master, you're like, Well, I'm going to try if it was my money, I would try. So I'm going to try, I'm gonna go out there do what I can do. So the one with five towns, the one with three towns, they, they tried to do something with it, and they're successful. But the one who has been given one talent, basically, in his mind, he's thinking, You know what? I don't like my master. I think he's a bum. I don't really want to stick my neck out for him. And by the way, I think if I lose the money, if I try to do some of them lose it, he's just gonna whack me because he's just, he's just a religious killjoy. He's just looking for me to make a mistake. He doesn't love me. Now, this is the question, what God do we worship? We worship the God that looks at our heart and wants to see us go for it. And even if we screw up, he says, I love you I see your heart, or are we religious? And are we playing it safe and saying it's all about staying out of trouble? It's about not saying anything wrong. Don't tweet anything unkind at 3am because that's really the ultimate judge of a man's character. Not if he's a warrior for truth, or for the unborn or for the nation, or against Marxist tyranny. We don't we, you know, we don't care about that. If you are worshipping the God that is just looking for you to make a little mistake, you're actually worshipping the devil I hate to tell you because that's who the devil is. The God of the Bible is like Aslan, in the Narnia Chronicles. He's wild. He's not tame. But he is good. And when we think about the goodness of God, we're not talking about a safe goodness, he's not sweet. He's not a kitty cat. He's Aslan, the lion, of the tribe of Judah. And he calls us to the battle, and he loves us. But there are many Christians who they don't know that God, they're worried about saying the wrong thing about being a little too, in politic about being perceived funny, so they're careful. And we have a lot of pastors that they're careful. They're being religious, they don't understand God calls us to a wildness to a battle, for his sake, to speak for those who have no voice. The church is the conscience of the state. And if the church is silent, when these evil things are happening, folks, do you not think the Lord will judge his church who has no excuse? I'm here to remind you, that's what happened in Germany. In Germany, they were quiet, and quiet and quiet. And by time some of them woke up. It was too late. I believe the Lord gave us the story of Bonhoeffer. And the example of what happened to that great nation that had the incredibly powerful church, culturally speaking, they had the power to stand against the Nazis. And they said, Not yet. Not yet. I'm not ready to get political, let the other let the hotheads, bring it up, let them go to jail, let Simone gold, go to jail, I don't care. Let them take the heat. I'm just gonna stand here and wait till it all blows over. Folks. That's not That's not the Lord. That's not the Lord, we need to understand. The Lord calls us to live out our faith, with our whole being and to show him by our actions that we know him, we love Him, we trust him. And we want to live for him. With everything we have, I am convinced that if a holy remnant is awakened, which I see happening by God's grace, and there are many, many, many others, still asleep, or beginning to wonder, beginning to look around and think are things bad enough now that I maybe I should speak up, maybe I should talk about politics, maybe the satanic Marxist atheists taking over America, maybe what they're doing is going to harm all kinds of people. And God is going to say, what did you do to the least of these? Did you speak up against it? Or did you just say, well, that's not my business, Lord, I want to stay in my religious lane. The Lord doesn't call you to stay in your religious lane. There's no such thing. The enemy calls you to stay in your religious line. I just have to say that we are. Again, we're in a season, where we talk a lot about theology, we talk a lot about faith. The Lord tells us again, and again and again in various ways. But through that scripture, Faith without works is dead. We are called to live out our faith, self sacrificially. And a lot of times in the evangelical church, we forget about character, right? We say Do you believe you believe you believe Okay, well, you're a bum, you cheat your business people and you're, you're kind of like, you would cheat on your wife if you had the chance and you were to, but But you believe so you're saved by grace. That's really not biblical folks. The Lord says, He cares what you do. You might be saved by grace and by faith, but then he looks at your life and says, Okay, now you get it. Are you ready to live for me between now and when I see you face to face? Are you ready to give it all? That's why I died on the cross for you. That's why I rose from the dead, to enable you to live out your faith utterly for such a time as this and you will see things glorious things happen. What are the last scriptures in the Bible, it might be the second scripture in Revelation it says, He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. He who overcomes but the cowardly. The cowardly, can you imagine the Lord is saying, I've given you enough of my life and my son in my word. To let you know that you have no excuse in being cowardly. A lot of people say well, I'm just cowardly by nature will look says no, no. It's like saying you're an adulterer by nature. You're well, let me tell you something I have come to give you the ability to live your life in the right way. And the first thing that he says, the cowardly, we are called to courage. It's not extra credit Christianity. We are called to heroism and courage. And Revelation 21. Seven says, but the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable murderer is sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. That's unbelievable, folks. The Lord is begging us to take him at his word. He is begging us to live courageously in the moment to stop pretending somebody told you you're only supposed to speak on gospel related issues. Truth is a gospel related issue. If the Church will arise now, and live this way, you will inspire untold people to do the same thing. If you will live this way, you will inspire people who don't know Jesus to want to know Jesus because they're dying to know, where do you get that courage from? Are you crazy? Or is it true? What they say? This is I believe in opportunity for the church. I don't know which way it's gonna go. But I don't believe the Lord called me to write this book. And I believe he called pastors like Rick and Rob and so many others to stand at this time for nothing. I believe God has a plan for this nation, to reach the whole world with his gospel. And there's nothing more extraordinary. There's nothing more extraordinary than that we would get to be a part of that. And we would get to share this with others and that the Lord would use us in bringing reformation so that the world would not talk about believing in Jesus, but would live out that faith in Jesus so that it would be so attractive that millions and millions and millions and millions would get saved if you care about evangelism. Live your faith. God bless you.    

Scripture Reading: John 10:1-42 1 “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The doorkeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. 5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not recognize the stranger's voice.” 6 Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.7 So Jesus said again, “I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door for the sheep. 8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. 13 Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away.14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17 This is why the Father loves me—because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again. 18 No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This commandment I received from my Father.”19 Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! Why do you listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see, can it?”22 Then came the feast of the Dedication in Jerusalem. 23 It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area in Solomon's Portico. 24 The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus replied, “I told you and you do not believe. The deeds I do in my Father's name testify about me. 26 But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father's hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”31 The Jewish leaders picked up rocks again to stone him to death. 32 Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good deeds from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jewish leaders replied, “We are not going to stone you for a good deed but for blasphemy because you, a man, are claiming to be God.”34 Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods'? 35 If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods' (and the scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,' because I said, ‘I am the Son of God'? 37 If I do not perform the deeds of my Father, do not believe me. 38 But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, so that you may come to know and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” 39 Then they attempted again to seize him, but he escaped their clutches.40 Jesus went back across the Jordan River again to the place where John had been baptizing at an earlier time, and he stayed there. 41 Many came to him and began to say, “John performed no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man was true!” 42 And many believed in Jesus there.Main ThemesShepherds in AntiquitySheepIn the ancient world, both Jew and Gentile, sheep were prized. They provided wool; meat; milk that could be turned into cheese; and, leather that could be turned into “canteens” to carry liquids. Shepherds cared for sheep and oftentimes goats as well.Sheep (and goats) would learn to follow the voice and pipe of the shepherd. (Forgive me, I tried learning more about what a shepherd's pipe may have looked like or sounded like, but I did not gain a good level of confidence on the material I found. Suffice it to say, it was some kind of flute, perhaps made of reeds.) Obedient animals could be led by voice and pipe without requiring the use of a staff. We have modern examples of shepherds guiding over 200 sheep by walking slowly and giving them a call about every forty seconds. In our daily lives, the closest analogue to this would be our relationships with our dogs.Shepherds' ReputationsShepherds were important in Old Testament times. Moses was a shepherd (Exodus 3:1). David was a shepherd (1 Samuel 16:11). Yet, despite the greatest patriarchs of the Jewish people being shepherds, the profession became despised by the elite during Jesus' time. As Craig Keener points out in his John commentary, contemporary texts portrayed shepherds as rogues, thieves, and murderers. Shepherds were considered the only class of people lower than peasants. And these texts include not only gentile sources. Surprisingly, Jewish rabbis shared these opinions considering shepherds as dishonorable—like tax collectors.In Chapter 10, Jesus is obviously speaking with a positive outlook on shepherds, very much in keeping with the Old Testament precedent. What we might not consider as we read the text is that Jesus is speaking to the religious elite, who probably do not share Jesus' positive description of pastoral life. This does not change the theological meaning of the text, but it informs us about the tone of the conversation. By this point in Chapter 10, the argument between Jesus and the religious elite has reached a boiling point. Jesus' use of shepherds in his parable probably did not bring the temperature down.The SheepfoldMany households would have owned sheep in Jesus' time. If the sheep were being kept “at home,” then they would be kept in the modern equivalent of the yard. (Perhaps our closest equivalent word would be the curtilage.) The yard was surrounded by a tall wall made of a permanent material, such as stone. There would be a door to enter the yard. Teenagers who were part of the household may be hired to care for the sheep. This may be the image we encounter in the first few verses of Chapter 10.Large herds, though, were not kept in anyone's backyard. They would be out in pastures and moved around from pasture to pasture as the seasons changed. The herds would have been taken higher into the mountains during summer and low into the valleys in winter. Neither the shepherd nor the sheep were safe during all this travel. Lions, wolves, and criminals posed dangers. We will discuss these dangers in a minute. For now, I want to focus on the kind of enclosure in which sheep could be kept when out in the pastures. A shepherd could use a cave, build a temporary shelter with thornbushes for sides, or perhaps use a temporary summer shelter built of stone walls topped with briars. This last kind of shelter would have no door but simply an opening, so the shepherd would sleep across the opening, himself acting as the door.Different shepherds might share the same sheepfold at night. We may think that separating the animals would be difficult in the morning, but that was not the case. The sheep would distinguish the voice of their shepherd and follow him.Thieves and RobbersThieves and robbers were common at the time. Technically there was a difference between the two. Generally, thieves broke into homes and robbers assaulted travelers.Robbers may not only steal sheep but kill the shepherd. Bands of robbers could grow powerful enough to require military intervention. Shepherds had to be ready for combat, which was part of the reason they carried a staff. They also had vicious dogs with them, but it is unclear how often dogs were used by Jewish shepherds. (Dog's were ceremonially unclean.)Of course, the words thieves and robbers were also used as insults. For example, a politician who exploited his people might be referred to as a robber. Pagan nations oppressing Israel could be referred to likewise.Shepherds in the Old TestamentThe last bit of background we need to better understand Chapter 10 is Ezekiel 34. Certainly Ezekiel 34 is not the only chapter in the Old Testament that calls Israel sheep, but it is the primary allusion in John 10. I quote verses 1-24 below,1 The Lord's message came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them—to the shepherds: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep! 4 You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled over them. 5 They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.7 “‘Therefore, you shepherds, listen to the Lord's message: 8 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep. 9 Therefore, you shepherds, listen to the Lord's message. 10 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they will no longer be food for them.11 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day. 13 I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land. 14 In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. 16 I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them—with judgment!17 “‘As for you, my sheep, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? When you drink clean water, must you muddy the rest of the water by trampling it with your feet? 19 As for my sheep, they must eat what you trampled with your feet and drink what you have muddied with your feet!20 “‘Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to them: Look, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you push with your side and your shoulder, and thrust your horns at all the weak sheep until you scatter them abroad, 22 I will save my sheep; they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another.23 “‘I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them—namely, my servant David. He will feed them and will be their shepherd. 24 I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken!The Parable of the Shepherd and the SheepForgive me, that was a lot of background information before we got to today's text. But, hopefully, all that information will help us understand the text with more depth.Parables in John's GospelOne final side note. You may have heard that the Gospel of John contains no parables. Yet, in John 10:6 you see the word “parable.” Why would people say that, then? The Greek word in John 10 is paroimian. When the Gospel of Matthew, for example, introduces a parable, it uses the word parabolēn. Some people argue that these two terms are not synonymous. The former might mean something more like a riddle while the latter truly means parable. However, both terms are used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew term “mashal,” and the paroimian in John 10 behaves just like a parable in Matthew's gospel: Jesus uses earthly shepherds as analogies. I do not believe that there is any meaningful distinction between John's paroimian and Matthew's parabolēn, so I will call the text in John 10 a parable.Sheep Kept at HomeIn verses 1 through 6, Jesus seems to describe the very familiar situation in which sheep were kept “at home.” As I explained above, sheep would be kept in the modern equivalent of the front and backyards. The yard was surrounded by a tall, stone wall. Someone was tasked with watching the sheep and the door. In the parable, the one who enters through the door is one who belongs to the household. He is known to the doorkeeper. The thieves and robbers do not belong to the household, so they must sneak in. Moreover, when the member of the household returns, his sheep recognize him. Notice that there is a bidirectional familiarity described here. Of course the “household member” is familiar with his household; but also, the household (i.e., the doorkeeper and the sheep) is familiar with him.To better understand the parable, let's recall the passage from Ezekiel I quoted above,The Lord's message came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them—to the shepherds: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep! You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled over them. As the last piece of the puzzle, let's also recall Matthew 23. In the first 7 verses of that chapter, Jesus speaks of the Pharisees as follows,[T]hey do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries wide and their tassels long. They love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues and elaborate greetings in the marketplaces and to have people call them “Rabbi.”I think the connection of John 10, Ezekiel 34, and Matthew 23 is hard to deny. Jesus' parable demotes the religious leaders from selfish shepherds (like in Ezekiel) to outright thieves and robbers—people outside the household and unrecognizable to the sheep. This is a harsh condemnation of the Pharisees. They are outside of the God's family. Of all people, those who considered themselves most holy stand damned.Sheep Out in the FieldIn verses 7 through 13, Jesus continues to use the shepherd analogy but seemingly changes the setting. Now Jesus seems to be describing a situation in which sheep are being kept in a temporary, summer sheepfold. As I described above, this would have been a temporary structure made of stone and briars. It would not have a door, so the shepherd slept across the opening and became the door himself. If this is the situation that Jesus had in mind, describing himself as the door makes perfect sense. Notice he is still the shepherd, so there is no lack of continuity in the parable.For anyone to enter the fold properly, they must go through Jesus. If they enter the fold any other way, they are nothing but a thief or a robber. Remember, the Jews believed that they were already part of God's family. They shared in God's inheritance because they were descendants of Abraham. Jesus is denying this. Jesus is denying there is any other way to enter God's family but through faith in him. The parable goes a step further. It accuses these impostors of causing harm to the sheep. The Pharisees are not innocently mistaken people; they have evil desires.In verse 11, the parable becomes prophetic. The good shepherd will sacrifice his own life for the sheep. Jesus will do exactly that on the cross. Contrast the good shepherd with the “hired hands.” We understand the difference between an owner and a hired hand very well. People do not take good care of things that are not theirs. The sheep owner is willing to risk (and lose) his life protecting the sheep. The hired hand says, “they don't pay me enough for this” and runs away. If Jesus is the good shepherd, who are the hired hands? Probably the Pharisees. Parables tend to have one message and not multiple, complex messages. Jesus is probably repeating that same, simple message multiple times. In this last iteration of the parable, the Pharisees are described as cowards who did not take real “ownership” of their jobs and left the sheep to die.Knowing GodThe idea of knowing God is found throughout the Old Testament. For example, in Exodus 6:7 God says, “I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to the Egyptians.” In John 10, however, this “knowledge” grows exponentially. Jesus explains that his “own” know him and he knows them—just as the Father knows Jesus and Jesus knows the Father! We must stop and consider the weight of this statement. Consider the intimacy that exists between the Father and the Son. They are one. Believers somehow are elevated to a similar level of closeness with God.Of course, I am not suggesting that believers become one in substance with God. That would be heretical, to say the least. We are creation, he is creator. There is an unbreachable ontological chasm between us. But that is the very reason that we should be shocked when Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” We are brought into a “knowledge” of God that far exceeds that of even the biblical prophets. Remember the words of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 24:7), “I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I am the Lord. I will be their God, and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly return to me.” Our division with God is finally fully remedied. How is this accomplished? Consider John 14:15-17, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept because it does not see him or know him. But you know him because he resides with you and will be in you.”Another SheepfoldJesus will call another sheep “that do not come from this sheepfold.” Who are these other sheep? Let's consider the alternatives. This could be referring to uniting Ephraim and Judah—that is, the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. In Jesus' time, the northern kingdom was called Samaria. Jesus could also be referring to the Diaspora Jews. For example, when the high priest in Chapter 11 refers to gathering “God's scattered children,” he is referring to Diaspora Jews. This also seems to be the most obvious meaning in passages like Ezekiel 34:13, “I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries.” The last alternative is that Jesus is referring to Gentiles. I think this is the correct interpretation for multiple reasons. The passage speaks of sheep that are not of “this sheepfold.” Both Ephraim and the Diaspora Jews would be of “this sheepfold.” They are scattered, sure, but they are from the same source. The words of the high priest in Chapter 11 are not dispositive of what Jesus meant in Chapter 10. Also, although Ezekiel's listeners would have interpreted his prophecy to mean Diaspora Jews, we understand Old Testament prophesies were often “bigger” than the original audience would have understood. The Jews expected a political king; they received a king of the universe instead. The Jews expected deliverance for their nation; they received deliverance for the whole world instead. The Jews expected a gathering of the Diaspora; they received a gathering of the whole world instead. Contemporary Jews already believed that Gentiles who converted to Judaism became part of the Jewish people. So, the idea of sheep from another sheepfold becoming part of the Jewish sheepfold would not have been strange. And, finally, this is the interpretation favored by the New Testament. Consider, for example, Romans 11:17. Paul explicitly refers to Gentiles (“wild olive shoots”) as being grafted onto the main olive tree. This is an equivalent analogy to the sheep of another sheepfold.Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah)The SettingHanukkah is an extrabiblical feast—it was not ordained in the Old Testament. A website explains the origin of the feast as follows:When Israel was under the Syrian-Greek Empire, the Temple in Jerusalem had been desecrated and set up as a house of worship to Zeus. A faithful Hebrew priest, Mattathias and his family, known as the Maccabees, led a rebellion for several years to restore Israel's independence and their ability to worship Yahweh properly. According to the second book of Maccabees, the time for the festival of Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles, which is a remembrance of Yahweh's provision for the Israelites in the wilderness) passed shortly before their victory. But the Jewish people did not celebrate because the Temple was not in order.However, when they did achieve victory, they began to restore the Temple and they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles in conjunction with a rededication of the Temple to Yahweh.Hanukkah is celebrated approximately three months after the Feast of Tabernacles, in the wintertime. The season alone would have made it a less popular feast. Like the Feast of Tabernacles, Hanukkah was celebrated for seven days. Notice that Hanukkah celebrated national liberation, not a religious theme. Naturally, we may expect fewer connections between the feast and the biblical passage in John 10.Using a “portico” or porch during the wintertime would have been natural. It provided some shelter from the elements while a speaker gathered with his audience.The Messianic SecretThe Jewish leaders surround Jesus and demand an answer. “Tell us who you are!” (I am paraphrasing, of course.) This naturally raises the question of the Messianic Secret, which I will explain in a minute. However, before we even get to that, let's get to the main irony. In verse 30, Jesus humors them and clearly replies, “I am God.” (Again, I am paraphrasing.). And the Jewish leaders try to kill him. The answer to their question has been clear, it is made clear again, and it is simply not an answer they are willing to accept.What is the Messianic Secret? As a Christian website explains,The Messianic Secret is a theme of biblical criticism developed in 1901 by a German Lutheran theologian named Wilhelm Wrede. The Messianic Secret involves Wrede's explanation for Jesus wanting to hide His identity from His enemies by commanding the disciples to keep silent about His mission on earth and the miracles He performed. Wrede claimed that Jesus did not ever think He was the Messiah and that Mark (and the rest of the New Testament authors) sensationalized Jesus and made Him into the Messiah. Wrede claims Mark added the Messianic Secret in an attempt to give a reason for why Jesus was not accepted by many as Messiah until after His death. Wrede's theory enjoyed some popularity during the 1920s but faded soon thereafter.Is there any biblical basis for Wrede's theory? It is undeniable that Jesus told His disciples on several occasions to keep what He had done secret. Each of those incidents, however, has a much more plausible explanation than the one put forth by Wilhelm Wrede. Further, each is consistent with the other Gospel accounts, and not an invention by Mark.In Mark 1:43–45 Christ commanded the leper He had healed, “‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.' But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.” Jesus knew the publicity about the healing would hinder His ability to minister in the area, which is exactly what happened when the leper disobeyed, and worse, the sensationalism caused by miraculous healings would hamper the spreading of His message. Because of the leper's disobedience, Jesus could no longer enter a city without being mobbed by those seeking healing, causing Him to abandon His ministry in the city and keep to relatively uninhabited areas. The healing of the leper is also found in Matthew 8:1–4 and Luke 5:12–16, with Luke reiterating the reason for the command for secrecy in verses 15–16.Further “evidence” for Wrede's theory of secrecy involves the explanation for Jesus speaking in parables in Mark 4:11 where He tells His disciples that the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God had been given to them, but to others He spoke in parables so that, “though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.” This is not, however, a plea for secrecy. Rather, it is an explanation of divine revelation in the hearts of true believers, revelation that is unavailable for those who, like the Pharisees, continued to reject the truth. The “mysteries of the kingdom” are revealed to those who have “ears to hear” but not to those whose hearts are darkened. As the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus would have been able to distinguish between those two groups. Again, this is not an invention of Mark, as it is reiterated in Matthew 13:11–17.Let's assume the Messianic Secret for a minute. Let's assume that, particularly in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus conceals his identity until the “end of the story.” Is this consistent with what we see in the Gospel of John. I think so. Remember that Jesus' brothers ask him to go do public miracles during the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus declines and makes his public appearance during the middle of the festival. He performs a miracle (healing the blind man) but he does not perform a highly public miracle, like the feeding of the 5,000. Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks using imagery that confuses his audience (e.g., “born again,” “living water,” “bread from Heaven”). In fact, the Gospel of John seems to explain the Messianic Secret. Jesus' “own” will listen and believe. Those who are not his sheep will not. Notice that this “listening” is not primarily an intellectual hurdle. In verse 31, the Jewish leaders clearly understand that Jesus is calling himself God. The intellectual component is there. They do not believe, however.You are GodsIn verse 34, Jesus begins to make a how-much-more kind of argument. This line of argumentation is called qal vaomer, and it was commonplace in religious debates among Jesus' contemporaries. Although verses 34 through 36 may seem a little confusing, the argument is as follows:Your* scripture uses the term “god” for people who merely received the word of God.(*When Jesus refers to “your law,” he is not dissociating himself from the Old Testament. He is highlighting the fact that his adversaries are already committed to this first premise.)I did not merely receive the word of God, God set me apart and sent me (i.e., God considers me unique and special). (Notice that the reader is filling in the blanks as well, thinking, “I did not merely receive the word of God, I am the word of God.”How much more should the term “god” be appropriate for me.Bonus Argument: And I do not even call myself “god” but “son of god.” (Notice that Jesus consistently makes himself one with the Father ontologically but subject to the Father in rank.)

Content Warning: miscarriage; traumatic birth; mental health problems; hell anxiety This week's guest is Julia. Julia is the clever mind behind @painfulpostchristianprayers on Instagram. Julia grew up in a German mostly-atheist environment. The hostility, however, she saw for religion made it all the morning appealing. As she came of age, she found herself confirmed in the German Lutheran church but attending and loving a very American Baptist church. Julia was all-in but soon found some doctrines were a bit much, especially the teachings about Hell. For years, Julia threw herself into American Church World—she read the entire Bible, went to university to become a missionary doctor, met her spouse at church, even read Joshua Harris's books! But life has a way of forcing some to wonder if the God they believe in really is as kind as they've been told. After one incredibly trying event after another, Julia could no longer see God's “goodness.” She began to see through the “incredibly ridiculous explanations” people gave when God did not come through. Julia is in a very different place now, and her online presence provides an outlet for the anger that had been pent-up for so long. It has also brought her community. She is far from alone, thousands are waking up to the lies and empty promises of Christianity. And that is what is what humans truly need—not a distant pretend deity but real human connection and relationship. Interact For quotes, recommendations and more see the full episode show notes https://gracefulatheist.com/2022/09/25/julia-deconstruction-of-a-doctor/ Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/deconversion Secular Grace https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/ Deconversion https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/ Deconstruction https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/#deconstruction/ Attribution "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats https://makaihbeats.net/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gracefulatheist/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gracefulatheist/support

On today's program, The Fellowship's C. J. Burroughs shares one of his “Heroes of the Holocaust” stories about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, who stood up against the Nazis.      

Deitrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential, and his book The Cost of Discipleship is described as a modern classic. Apart from his theological writings, Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, including vocal opposition to Hitler's euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel prison for one and a half years. Later, he was transferred to Flossenbürg concentration camp where he was executed. Links to information... Christian History: Deitrich Bonhoeffer; German Theologian and Resister 20 Influential Quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer The Cost of Discipleship by Deitrich Bonhoeffer Letters and Papers from Prison by Deitrich Bonhoeffer Life Together by Deitrich Bonhoeffer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Infinite thanks to ALL of you for listening! I pray you find what you are looking/searching for - and more - here! Please keep listening and share the show with as many people as you feel it would benefit/help! Check out our website!! This is an incredibly easy way to access the show, show notes, listen to the show, request prayers, and contact me! https://faithandmorepodcast.wixsite.com/my-site Contact me at... faithandmorepodcast@gmail.com or at anchor.fm/faith-and-more IF you would like to make an offering to/for the show, you can find the show's Amazon "wish list" at this link... Faith and More Podcast Wish List #hellotosoul #logicandthebible #martinluther #lutheran #mystics #mysticism #loveyourself #forgiveness #faith #hope #love #peace #digdeep #healing #trulyamazing #faithandmore #dietrichbonhoeffer #bonhoeffer #thecostofdiscipleship #theologian #lettersandpapersfromprison #lifetogether --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/faith-and-more/message

Rev. Roy Askins, Managing Editor of The Lutheran Witness, joins Andy and Sarah on the 175th Anniversary of the founding of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod to talk about the founding of Die Deutsche Evangelical-Lutherische Synode von Missouri, Ohio, und Andern Staaten as it was called in the original German. Hear about why German Lutheran immigrated to the United States, what daily life and congregational life was like for these immigrants, why it became necessary to organize as a synod, who the original congregations were, and how education played a role in the forming of the Synod. Read the article referenced in this conversation at witness.lcms.org/2022/die-deutsche-evangelisch-lutherische-synode-von-missouri-ohio-und-andern-staaten. Also, find the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge podcast episodes on Walther League, Dorothea Craemer, and Emilie Walther at kfuo.org/lutheranladieslounge.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writing on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential.

Carpzov was a German Lutheran scholar who asserted verbal inspiration and the integrity of the biblical text. He wrote hugely influential works that denounced William Whiston, Clericus, and Richard Simon as opponents of Scripture.

Stephen Gurgel is a 2011 graduate from Martin Luther College: Bachelor of Science in Education and a 2012 graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Master of Arts in History.  His 2012 thesis, a War to End All Germans, Wisconsin Synod Lutherans and the First World War, offers a detailed account and analysis of the social and political forces that persecuted the German Lutherans of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod during WWI.You can read the thesis hereLutheran History ShopSupport the show

Synopsis In many denominations, the Christian calendar or liturgical year begins with the season of Advent, the four Sundays preceding Christmas. The word “Advent” comes from the Latin “adventus,” which means “arrival” or “coming,” because Advent celebrates both the joyful anticipation of the arrival of the baby Jesus and the need for believers to prepare for the second coming of their Savior at the Last Judgement. In 1724, a very devout German Lutheran church musician named Johann Sebastian Bach crafted a cantata, a work for a small instrumental ensemble with solo voices and chorus, to be performed on the First Sunday of Advent, which fell on today's date that year. At Bach's church, the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, there would have been readings from Luther's translation of the Bible appropriate for the day, so Bach asked a poet friend for a text meditating on them, and took for his musical inspiration Luther's Advent hymn, "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,", which in English means “Now come, Savior of the heathens." That hymn appeared as the first in the Thomaskirche's hymnal, which meant the church year was off and running once again. Now, it was Bach's responsibility to provide a cantata for performance each Sunday, and during his time in Leipzig he would write over 200 of them -- which no doubt made him a favorite customer with anyone in Leipzig selling music manuscript paper! Music Played in Today's Program J.S. Bach (1685 - 1750) — Cantata No. 62 (Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland) (Monteverdi Choir; English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, cond.) Archiv 463 588

Our stories this week include: (1) a very inculturated Mass for the opening of the Synod on Synodality in California; (2) the Pope's meeting with a group of German Lutherans, plus his latest general audience (more railing against "fundamentalists"); (3) the appointment of notorious population control advocate Jeffrey Sachs to the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences by Pope Francis; (4) a new decree issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW) concerning liturgical translations and adaptations (practical application of Francis' 2017 Motu Proprio Magnum Principium); and (5) Archbishop Viganò's appeal to the U.S. Bishops and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to reconsider their support for abortion-tainted and experimental vaccines.

Happy Halloween you beautiful bastards… Well… in a couple of days, but this is our Halloween episode so keep it or leave it. We've got some pretty crazy and creepy stuff going on today. Let's get into it!   Do you guys believe in demons? Possession? Are you afraid that at some point in your life a being from hell or possibly another plane of existence could enter your body and wreak havoc on your body, mind, and soul? That they could possibly even kill you or cause injury or death to someone you know? What must it be like to not be in control of your own being? Well, we're gonna discuss all of that today while talking about perhaps the most famous possession incident out there. The one that inspired what many think it's one of, if not the, scariest horror movies ever. Today we are discussing the possession and Exorcism of Roland Doe, also sometimes referred to as Robbie Manheim. While there are many versions of what happened, we will try to stay as close to what is thought to be the actual events.  "Robbie Mannheim" was Allen's alias for the 13-year-old boy at the center of the exorcism story; the Catholic Church referred to him as "Roland Doe." None of the eyewitnesses publicly revealed the boy's true identity, and it was never disclosed  from the unedited diary of Raymond Bishop that was used by Thomas B Allen to write the book "Possession: The True Story Of An Exorcism, which is thought to be the closest account to what actually happened.    From here on out we will be referring to the boy as Roland since that was the name given to him by the Catholic Church and we don't want to cause any confusion by switching names during the show.    In January of 1949 strange things started to happen in the house where Roland lived in maryland. Roland was born into a Lutheran family and was an only child. He spent a lot of time with his Aunt Harriet. Most accounts of the story day that when Aunt Harriet died that's when the whole ordeal began. You see it seems that Roland took an interest in the… Wait for it… Ouija board!!! Oh yeah the good old wholesome family entertainment known as the Ouija board. Well Aunt Harriet decided to help Roland learn the ways of the Ouija board when he showed interest and when she died the family thought that the things they were experiencing were caused by the deceased Aunt and things having to do with the Ouija board.  So what types of things are the family experiencing you ask? Well we're not going to tell you. Goodnight everyone!!! Anyways… started with the usual small stuff. There were scratching sounds coming from the walls. They claimed to hear dripping water but couldn't locate a source of the sound. They claimed that objects around the house would levitate or move on their own when Roland was around. They claim they witnessed his mattress moving on it's own. The family was understandably concerned. They began to seek the opinions of physicians and psychiatrists who predictably couldn't really find anything wrong with the boy. They also sought advice from a minister from their local Lutheran Church. They go to Rev. Luther Miles Schulze, a Lutheran minister who happened to be greatly interested in the paranormal, as it was called at that time, and he said, 'Go to a Catholic priest; the Catholics know about this kind of thing. well thanks for nothing I guess!    Interestingly enough, later on Rev. Schulze spoke at a meeting of a Washington, D.C., branch of the Society for Parapsychology about this case. That information made its way to the press, and the published Schulze interview led to the leaking of the exorcism story by Catholic sources. Studying at Georgetown at that time, William Peter Blatty read the story in the Washington Post and years later used it as inspiration for The Exorcist.    On Schulze's advice, the family went to a local priest, Father E. Albert Hughes, who "gave them a bottle of holy water and candles and sent them on their way.    Unfortunately the holy water and candles didn't really do the trick. Things kept happening and things kept getting worse. Roland was getting more violent but it only seemed to come out at night. According to witnesses in the evening Roland would put on his pajamas and get in bed and that's when the trouble would start. He seemed to come into a trance-like state. He would claim to have no recollection of the night's events the following morning.    Come February things were getting a little more intense. Around February 26 scratches started to appear randomly on Roland's body. Several nights later words supposedly began to appear on his body either scratched or "branded" on him.  At this point around Feb 28th, it seems Roland's first Exorcism took place at Georgetown hospital. Que the return of father Hughes. Hughes asked the arch­bishop of Washington, D.C., for permission to perform an exorcism on the boy. This was the first time that something major seemed to have taken place. During the Exorcism Roland supposedly broke of a piece of a bedspring from the mattress he was on and slashed the good father from his shoulder to his wrist although Later when the case was looked at a little more in depth there was no evidence that this event ever actually happened but will get to that later.    At this point Roland's mother thought that maybe a change of scenery would be good. She began thinking about moving back to where she used to live...St. Louis. Now low and behold weird had it that after they discussed the move, the word Louis magically appeared scratched onto Roland.  Mama took this as a sign and they packed up and headed to St Louis sometime around March 4 or 5th. The boy ended up staying in a house with a relative who had attended Saint Louis University. One of her professors was Father Bishop, who became one of sev­eral Jesuits to participate in the exorcism and kept the day-by-day account on which Allen's book is based. Bishop talked to his friend William Bowdern, S.J. After both men consulted with Paul Reinert, S.J., then president of Saint Louis University, and St. Louis Archbishop Joseph Ritter, all agreed that an exorcism would be performed according to the Roman Ritual. It was something that Bowdern, who was chosen to be the lead exorcist, knew little about.   "Father Halloran said the first thing Bowdern did was hit the books," Allen, who wrote the book about the incident, said. "He would have learned something about it while becoming a Jesuit, but there isn't much call for exorcism to the modern-day priest. But Bowdern was a veteran of World War II, he'd been in combat -- so he was a combination of a religious man who was very tough."    The process ended up taking more than a month, during which Bowdern fasted. Several priests, Alexian Brothers and family members participated in or witnessed the rite, which  always began in the evening.   "The pattern was that the boy would act normally during the day, and then he would put on his pajamas and go to bed, and go into a trance and start screaming and yelling and acting wild," Allen said. In the morning, the boy apparently never remem­bered what transpired the night before.   Many things were related to have happened during these weeks of Exorcism including the mattress moving as it did before, objects levitating and moving on their own during the rites, Roland speaking in latin and other random languages, more scratches appearing on the boys body and road beginning more angry and violent during the rites.    Halloran stated that during this scene words such as "evil" and "hell", along with other various marks, appeared on the teenager's body. Allegedly, during the Litany of the Saints portion of the exorcism ritual, the boy's mattress began to shake.    A Jesuit priest named John Walsh, a friend of Bowdern's, talked about the Roman numeral X that appeared on the boy's chest. It was believed that 10 demons were involved, Walsh said.   A voice coming from the boy supposedly told an attending Jesuit, who was assisting Bowdern, that he would die in 10 years and would burn in hell. The Jesuit had a fondness for strong drink, and the voice so unnerved him that he stopped drinking, for a time.    Another incident supposedly written about in the diary was when One night, sitting on the bed beside the boy, Bowdern watched a tiny, nearly invisible pitchfork, or lines, move from under the boy's upper thigh all the way to the ankle. Droplets of blood occurred. Bowdern was only a foot away, and there were the usual four or five witnesses.   Often, according to the priests, he had to be forcibly restrained. In one of these incidents, he broke the nose of  Walter Halloran. He said of the incident             ''I got in on the business with the prayers of exorcism, and the little boy would go into a seizure and get quite violent. So Father Bowdern asked me to hold him.'' (Halloran is a former high school football player.) ''Yes, he did break my nose.''   Halloran said he observed the streaks and arrows and words like ''hell'' that would rise on the child's skin. ''That happened a number of times. And it wasn't a case of taking a pin and scratching himself. It just appeared, and with quite a bit of pain.   ''On Holy Thursday that year, this phenomenon started occurring as I was reading the prayers. 'Don't talk about it anymore, this hurts too much, ' the kid said. The markings were most visible, and there were many obscenities. He was a nice little kid.''   Throughout the ordeal, Bowdern fasted on bread and water. ''He looked terrible, '' said his brother, Dr. Edward H. Bowdern of St. Louis. He looked thin and wasted, and developed styes and boils, Dr. Bowdern said.   Other accounts attributed a frightening degree of strength to young Roland, and claimed that he spoke in perfect Latin, though the boy was unschooled in the language. Some sources state that at least one of these exorcisms was observed by no less than 48 people, nine of them Jesuits.   After all of this craziness took place...a miracle of sorts happened. At 11:00pm on 18 April 1949, while wearing saint medals and holding a crucifix, Roland screamed, “Satan! Satan! I am St. Michael! I command you, Satan, and the other evil spirits to leave this body, in the name of Dominus, immediately! Now! Now! Now!” After a final spasm, Roland fell quiet and proclaimed that “He is gone.”   and with that the Exorcism was finished and Road seemed to well again. Following the final exorcism, Roland claimed to experience a vision of St. Michael slaying a dragon. Believing it was a sign that his ordeal was over, the family returned home from Missouri 12 days later. The strange behavior ceased and Hunkeler returned to school. After this not many people know what happened to Roland but a few people did keep tabs on him and the results are that the boy went on to live a normal life and eventually married and had a son he named Michael after St. Michael.    The following is a timeline of events that took place according to the diary that was kept. There are a few extras details about dinner if the effects as well and it's a pretty good summary.  15 January 1949   A dripping noise was heard in his grandmother's bedroom by the boy and his grandmother.  A picture of Christ on the wall shook and scratching noises were heard under the floorboards. Scratching was heard every night from 7 p.m. until midnight for 10 days. This was attributed to a rodent at the time   26 January 1949   Aunt “Tillie”/Harriet dies of multiple sclerosis in St. Louis. Waves of air reportedly strike the grandmother 3 knocks are heard on the floor. Roland's mom asks, “If you are Harriet, tell me positively by knocking four times.” Four knocks were heard. Scratchings on Hunkeler's mattress.   28 January 1949   After 3 days of silence, nighttime “squeaking shoes" on rolands bed heard for 6 nights   17 February 1949  Roland spends the night with Lutheran minister Schulze. Reportedly Schulze heard scratching noises, and witnessed: bed vibrations; a chair in which Roland sat tipping over; and, the movements of a pallet of blankets. Schulze's family take Roland to the Mental Hygiene Clinic of the University of Maryland for testing. After two rounds of testing, nothing abnormal was discovered. Schulze also contacted J.B. Rhine, the founder of the parapsychology laboratory at Duke University. Rhine and wife, Louisa Rhine, drove up from North Carolina to evaluate the boy but saw no activity.   26 February 1949   Scratches or markings appeared on the boy's body for 4 consecutive nights. Circa   27 February 1949   Words began to appear on the boy's body and seemed to be scratched by claws. Father Edward Albert Hughes of St. James Catholic Church in Mount Rainier is called upon to review the case. Hughes suggested the family use blessed candles, holy water, and special prayers. Hughes reportedly witnessed: Unassisted movements of a telephone and other objects in his office. Roland make obscene and blasphemous remarks at him in a strange, diabolical voice. And the room became unexplainably cold.  Father Hughes was convinced that Roland was possessed and requested Cardinal Patrick A O'Boyle at authorize exorcism.   28 February 1949    Until   3 March 1949   Roland is a patient at Georgetown University Hospital. This is the point that the alleged first exorcism took place. Mother sees the bloody word “Louis” scratched on Roland. When the boy is asked if word “Louis” means “St. Louis.” The word “Yes” is said to appear. Family departs for Normandy, Missouri, near St. Louis to stay at the home of an aunt.   8 March 1949   The shaking of the mattress and scratching resumed at aunt's home in Normandy. 9 March 1949   Father Raymond J. Bishop of St. Louis University sees Roland for the first time. Bishop  witnesses the scratching of the boy's body as well as the motion of the mattress.   11 March 1949   Father William S. Bowdern of St. Francis Xavier Church asked to meet Roland. Father Bowdern read the Novena prayer of St. Francis Xavier, blessed the boy with a relic and placed a crucifix under the boy's pillow. After everyone has left the room, a loud noise was heard and, reportedly, a large book case had moved about. A bench was turned over and the crucifix had been moved to the edge of the bed. The mattress was also reported to shake.   16 March 1949   Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter gave Father Bowdern permission to begin the formal rite of exorcism. The first of the second series of exorcisms is performed at the Normandy, Missouri home. A number of priest were in attendance including: Bowdern as chief exorcist, Rev. Walter Halloran as the assistant exorcist (but he was removed before the final exorcism) Father Lawrence Kenny And Father Charles O'Hara of Marquette University. During the exorcism: Roland becomes violent, spits at the priests, with howls and growls. The bed shakes. Allegedly, word such as “Satan” and “devil” appear on chest as scratches. Proving too violent for the exorcisms to be performed in home, the exorcisms were moved to the rectory at St. Francis Xavier Church. When this proves to be too dangerous, Roland is transferred to the Alexian Brothers Hospital and placed in the psychiatric ward. Exorcisms continue at the hospital. 1 April 1949   Roland is baptized Catholic. 4 April 1949   In brief trip back to Maryland by train, Roland becomes violent and attacks Father Bowdern, kicking him in the testicles. 9 April 1949   Roland is returned to St. Louis and briefly stays at “White House,” a Jesuit retreat along the Mississippi near St. Louis. Roland attempts to commit suicide by throwing himself over the bluff into the river but is prevented from doing so by Halloran.  Roland is then returned to the Alexian Brothers Hospital and placed in the psychiatric ward where he is restrained. Communion was refused. Easter   18 April 1949   Final exorcism   So who was Roland? Well most people seem to think it's a man named Ronald Edwin Hunkeler. And there are many that believe he was never actually possessed. According to one report Hunkeler was nothing more than a bully and a brat looking for attention.    The identity of Ronald Edwin Hunkeler was confirmed by T. Weston Scott Jr., a Cottage City resident since 1919 and a lifelong member of the Cottage City-Colmar Manor Fire Department. Having served as the local fire chief for over twenty years, Scott stated:   The boy involved was [Ronald Edwin Hunkeler] and he lived at 3807 40th Avenue… I knew the boy but I didn't know too much about what was going on to be frank. They kept it quiet at the time and later on there was a lot of stuff about it. The Hunkelers lived there since the thirties and they stayed in that house for about 20 years. I think most of the older neighbors who were around at the time knew about it. Most of them are gone now, though. One of Ronald Edwin Hunkeler's contemporaries and neighborhood friends submitted himself to an interview with Opsasnick to discuss the case under the grant of animity.  JC, as he is referred to by Opsasnick, stated:   No, I don't think he was ever possessed. I think it was psychological. As far as any real possession or anything like that, I don't think so. There are some interesting psychological aspects to it. They were German Lutherans and he was an only child and I think the grandmother is actually the central figure. She played a very influential role in all of this. You had this old world religion superstition and the mother got caught up in it and the father just kind of stayed in the background—I think he could see what was going on which is why he is never mentioned. The true story is much more intriguing from a psychological point of view. The basis of the real thing could be a damn good story, no doubt about it in my mind. The rest of it I can run a parallel. You had these two mischief makers that had a strong tendency to take advantage of people who were weaker than themselves. They were a pair of connivers and they had their act down. In pairs like that they compete with each other and they don't get along well and they have to keep doing something to retain their relationship and all the time this is mischief in one form or another. They were trying to outdo each other. JC's brother, called BC in the interview, was for many years the best friend of Ronald Edwin Hunkeler. In discussions with BC, Ronald Edwin Hunkeler was described as being submerged in a household with a fanatically religious mother and grandmother that embraced spiritualism. Hunkeler was hated by his classmates and prone to tantrums. He frequently showed violent tendencies and exhibited sadistic behavior to animals and people around him. In short, may of the traits used to describe the possessed boy had been a fundamental part of his character. JC summed up Hunkeler's personality with “People ask what he was like back then and I can tell you that he was never what you would call a normal child. He was an only child and kind of spoiled and he was a mean bastard. We were together all the time and we used to fight all the time.” JC did recall Hunkeler's last day in class during the 1948-1949 school year:   We were in a class together at Bladensburg Junior High. He was sitting in a chair and it was one of those deals with one arm attached and it looked like he was shaking the desk—the desk was shaking and vibrating extremely fast and I remember the teacher yelling at him to stop it and I remember he kind of yelled “I'm not doing it” and they took him out of class and that was the last I ever saw of him in school. The desk certainly did not move around the room like that book [Possessed] said, it was just shaking. I don't know if he was doing it or what was doing it because I just can't clear it in my mind. JC summarized Hunkeler's character with his own story about life with Hunkeler:   There was this dog that ran around the neighborhood at that time…. It was half-red cocker spaniel and it looked like it was half-chow. This dog was mean and nobody ever knew who owned it. It just came out of nowhere. Well, [Ron] basically adopted that dog. That dog was really his best friend, not me. That dog hated everyone and everything and would bite anyone in sight but he loved [Ron]. [Ron] would feed it and bring it in the house with him. One time he called me up and told me to come over and I never really trusted him because he was sneaky and a real mean little bastard. I was going over there and he was looking out from the basement window and when I got to his house I heard the back porch door slam and I knew right away what he'd done. He'd done this sort of thing many times before to different kids. I started running like hell because he'd sicked that dog on me. When I got home he called me up and was laughing like hell. That's what kind of person he was. He did that all the time.   So it seemed like little Roland may not have been the good kid everyone claimed him to be. But did that mean he was crazy enough to fake a possession?    There have been several investigations into the exorcisms. So what did they find?  Well one came up with dinner interesting stuff. According to various reports, Father Edward Albert Hughes (?-1980), was the first priest to attempt an exorcism on Ronald Edwin Hunkeler. The claim is that after an initial session with the boy, Hughes had the boy sent to the Georgetown University Hospital where three days of exorcisms were performed and that Hughes was injured in the process. However, Opsasnick suggests there is no evidence to suggest Hughes ever visited Hunkeler in his Cottage City home or at Georgetown University Hospital. Instead, there seems evidence to suggest Mrs. Hunkeler took her son to a single consultation in February 1949 with Hughes at St. James Church in Mount Rainier, Maryland where he was assigned as assistant pastor. There is also no evidence to suggest that Hughes was ever attacked. On the other hand, Father William Sauders, writing for the Catholic Herald in 1998, asserts firmly that Hughes did conduct the exorcism at the Georgetown University Hospital. Hughes's assistant pastor, Frank Bober confirmed that most likely it was Mrs. Hunkeler that initiated the interested of the clergy. According to Bober, “Father Hughes never went to the boy's home… Basically it was the mother that brought the kid to the rectory and the thing is she's the one who gave Father Hughes all the information. Everything that I know of that he shared with me took place in the rectory, not at the house.” Bober also stated that Father Hughes had described the Hunkeler boy as having a “dark stare, almost as if there were nothing behind the eyes”. Bober further claims that Hughes experienced an unseen force pressing him against the wall.   In an effort to clarify the events surrounding the exorcisms back in 1949, one of the few witnesses willing to go on record was Father Walter Halloran, who was called by Father William Bowdern to assist in the exorcism. When asked if Hunkeler was possessed, Halloran said “I can't go on record… I never made an absolute statement about the things because I didn't feel I was qualified. I hadn't studied the phenomena and that sort of thing. All I did was report the things that I saw and whether I would make a statement one way or another wouldn't make any difference…” When questioned about reports of the boy speaking other languages, Halloran stated, “Just Latin… I think he mimicked us.” Halloran said there were no demonic changes in the boy's voice and that when the boy struck him it wasn't with extraordinary strength.   In his 1993 book Possessed: The True Story of an Exorcism, author Thomas B. Allen offered "the consensus of today's experts" that "Robbie was just a deeply disturbed boy, nothing supernatural about him".   Author Mark Opsasnick[1] questioned many of the supernatural claims associated with the story, proposing that "Roland Doe" was simply a spoiled, disturbed bully who threw deliberate tantrums to get attention or to get out of school. Opsasnick reports that Halloran, who was present at the exorcism, never heard the boy's voice change, and he thought the boy merely mimicked Latin words he heard clergymen say, rather than gaining a sudden ability to speak Latin. Opsasnick reported that when marks were found on the boy's body, Halloran failed to check the boy's fingernails to see if he had made the marks himself. Opsasnick also questioned the story of Hughes' attempts to exorcise the boy and his subsequent injury, saying he could find no evidence that such an episode had actually occurred.   During his investigation Opsasnick discovered:   The exorcism did not take place at 3210 Bunker Hill Road in Mount Rainier, Maryland The boy never lived in Mount Rainier The boy's home was in Cottage City, Maryland Much of the commonly accepted information about this story is based on hearsay, is not documented, and was never fact-checked There is no evidence Father E. Albert Hughes visited the boy's home, had him admitted to Georgetown Hospital, requested that the boy be restrained at the hospital, attempted an exorcism of the boy at Georgetown Hospital, or was injured by the boy during an exorcism (or at any other time) There is ample evidence refuting claims that Father Hughes suffered an emotional breakdown and disappeared from the Cottage City community According to Opsasnick, individuals connected to the incident were influenced by their own specializations:   To psychiatrists, Rob Doe suffered from mental illness. To priests this was a case of demonic possession. To writers and film/video producers this was a great story to exploit for profit. Those involved saw what they were trained to see. Each purported to look at the facts but just the opposite was true — in actuality they manipulated the facts and emphasized information that fit their own agendas   Opsasnik wrote that after he located and spoke with neighbors and childhood friends of the boy (most of whom he only referenced by initials) he concluded that "the boy had been a very clever trickster, who had pulled pranks to frighten his mother and to fool children in the neighborhood".   Skeptic Joe Nickell[8] wrote that there was "simply no credible evidence to suggest the boy was possessed by demons or evil spirits" and maintains that the symptoms of possession can be "childishly simple" to fake. Nickell dismissed suggestions that supernatural forces made scratches or markings or caused words to appear on the teenager's body in unreachable places, saying, "A determined youth, probably even without a wall mirror, could easily have managed such a feat - if it actually occurred. Although the scratched messages proliferated, they never again appeared on a difficult-to-reach portion of the boy's anatomy." On one occasion the boy was reportedly seen scratching the words "hell" and "christ" on his chest by using his own fingernails.[8] According to Nickell:   Nothing that was reliably reported in the case was beyond the abilities of a teenager to produce. The tantrums, "trances", moved furniture, hurled objects, automatic writing, superficial scratches, and other phenomena were just the kinds of things someone of R's age could accomplish, just as others have done before and since. Indeed, the elements of "poltergeist phenomena", "spirit communication", and "demonic possession"—taken both separately and, especially, together, as one progressed to the other—suggest nothing so much as role-playing involving trickery.   Nickell also dismissed stories of the boy's prodigious strength, saying he showed "nothing more than what could be summoned by an agitated teenager" and criticized popular accounts of the exorcism for what he termed a "stereotypical storybook portrayal" of the Devilm   Two Christian academics, Terry D. Cooper, a professor of psychology, and Cindy K. Epperson, a professor of sociology, wrote that advocates of possession believe that "although they are not frequent, exorcisms are necessary for casting out the demonic" and "cases of genuine possession cannot be explained by psychiatry". Cooper and Epperson devoted a chapter of their book Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology to the case and dismissed natural explanations in favor of a supernatural perspective regarding the nature of evil.    Ok so after all that what are we thinking out there? Possession? Jerk kid? Is the exorcist that scary of a movie? This case spawned a ton of movies and stories and tv shows and documentaries and everything else. Honestly it's crazy because not a huge amount is known about what exactly took place. Only a few people truly knew what went down and they are all gone now. No one is sure if Hunkeler is still alive… He'd be in his 90s today if he was still alive. With all of the media that was produced around this case it will most likely never go away but we may never actually know what happened.   To possession movies   https://www.ranker.com/list/best-demonic-posession-movies/ranker-horror http://www.themidnighttrainpodcast.com

Who doesn't love a good fall festival? And sausages? And pretzels and mustard? In this latest “How to Lutheran,” Bri (a first-generation Lutheran without a discernible drop of German blood in her) celebrates the German Lutheran cultural juggernaut that is Oktoberfest. Starting with Oktoberfest's German (Catholic) origins in Bavaria, Bri frolics through the past and present of this beloved cultural festival, which is observed annually in many American Lutheran churches. She, Sarah, Erin, and Rachel also relive favorite Oktoberfest memories and discuss what Oktoberfest might look like in less homogenous, more culturally diverse congregational contexts. Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge). Follow us on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge, and also follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), Erin (@erinaltered), and Bri (@grrrzevske).

There I was, living my tidy little mainstream Protestant life, when Karl Barth sprung the Blumhardts on me. Took a few years (or decades) to follow up, but now I (and even Dad) have become fans of these indigenous German Lutheran revivalists. In this episode we discuss the difference between revivals stemming from European Pietist roots and from American roots, cover the lives of Johann Christoph Blumhardt (who proclaimed Christ's victory over the devil) and his son Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt (who proclaimed Christ's victory over the Christian), reflect on the complementary roles and mutual need of church and revival for one another, and speculate that "renewal" might after all be a better term than revival, in more ways than one. Notes: 1. Ising, Johann Christoph Blumhardt, Life and Work 2. Zahl, Pneumatology and Theology of the Cross in the Preaching of Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt (and by all means check out his newer book, The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience) 3. Winn, Jesus Is Victor! The Significance of the Blumhardts for the Theology of Karl Barth 4. Weiss, Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom of God 5. Among my writings on these topics, see: A Guide to Pentecostal Movements for Lutherans; "How Is Your Revival Going?"; blog posts in my Lutheran saint series on Johann Christoph Blumhardt and Gottlieben Dittus, and Christoph Friedrich; and keep your eyes open for a forthcoming book on Nenilava, the prophetess of Madagascar! 6. Related episodes: Revival and Church; Illness and Healing; All About Prayer And hey! If you've made it this far in the show notes, you're probably a super fan, and should consider declaring yourself as one on Patreon. You can start at just $2 a month (which is basically a buck an episode). Give more monthly and you get swag. Or just pay us a visit at sarahhinlickywilson.com and paulhinlicky.com!

Born in 1892, Martin Niemöller was a prominent German Lutheran pastor who became an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. It was Niemöller who wrote:First they came for the Bolsheviks, and I said nothing—Because I was not a Bolshevik.Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I said nothing— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I said nothing— Because I was not a Jew.Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak.Unfortunately, it was too late for millions of people who lost their lives during World War Two to recognize the danger Martin described. His writing summarizes the greatest danger humanity has ever faced, in the past, in the present, and if not stopped into the future. What is the greatest danger? Relational Relativism. Relational Relativism is a term I've coined which means to treat people differently than we would treat ourselves or closest loved ones. When we do treat someone different, it essentially erases their humanity and places you as master. When we see another human being as anything less than a human being who is exactly like us, we fall into the same end where we divide ourselves, only to see more pain. If I don't see you the same way I see me, then I don't really see me. 

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Instead of interpreting God's character in light of our circumstances, we must do the opposite and interpret our circumstances in light of God's character.” ~Erik Raymond, contemporary pastor and author “We learn what tangible fathers are supposed to be like by looking to the intangible Father. And we look to Him by looking at Jesus, the one who brings us to the Father.” ~Douglas Wilson (1953-present), theologian and author “The child asks of the Father whom he knows. Thus, the essence of Christian prayer is not general adoration, but definite, concrete petition. The right way to approach God is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the heart of a Father.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), German Lutheran pastor and author “… I am a great writer because when I was a little girl and walked into the room where my father was sitting, his eyes would light up. That is why I am a great writer. That is why. There isn't any other reason.” ~Toni Morrison (1931-2019), American novelist and professor “In my own life, when I was most inspired by a teacher, it always involved a real dialogue, a looseness and a real caring and compassion. It was not without rigor, not without discipline, not without standards, but all that was done out of love.” ~Michael Goldenberg (1965-present), American playwright and screenwriter “Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.” ~Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984), American theologian and philosopher SERMON PASSAGE Psalm 103 (ESV) 1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. 19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! 21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! 22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!

The subject of this discussion can be found in the 2021 summer article of the CHIQ.Image:  Rev. "Colonel" John Jacob Lehmanowsky.  Note the scar on his face supposedly from the battle of Austerlitz.    The small Lutheran Synod called the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the West existed for barely more than a decade (1835-1846).    In Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, isolated Lutheran pastors vainly attempted to rally around an institution intended to be the preeminent Lutheran synod in a large and rapidly populated geographical area.  From its beginning, the synod's leaders continuously struggled to find enough pastors and to keep up with the region's population explosion.  In search of solutions to perplexing challenges, ambitious plans to establish a seminary and publishing house were proposed.  Yet the largest challenge proved to be meeting the needs of German immigrants, who began to overtake the number of American-born members.  The Synod of the West did not ultimately have the foresight to anticipate the multitudes of German-speaking Lutherans who moved into their sphere at an ever-increasing rate.     Friedrich Wyneken, a member of the synod, was troubled by the distress of German Lutherans in the West.  They lacked pastors and leadership, and the Lutheran synods available to them were too weak to minister effectively and struggled with doctrinal error and indifference.  The Synod of the West serves as the backlighting for Wyneken's famous The Distress of the German Lutherans in North America (the Notruf), which called forth an incredible response from Lutherans in Europe. Understanding this synod's history is essential to understanding the context and cause for Wyneken's dissatisfaction with the condition of the Lutheran Church in America. The Synod of the West, more than anything, embodied the distress of the Church.Lutheran History ShopSupport the show

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. He talked at length about the relationship between the church and state. IMO the church in America has done a poor job advocating for rights and installing quality representatives. Its time to tear down the wall between church and state a little.patreon.com/patriotradio

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. He talked at length about the relationship between the church and state. IMO the church in America has done a poor job advocating for rights and installing quality representatives. Its time to tear down the wall between church and state a little. patreon.com/patriotradio --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/patriotmedia/support

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. He talked at length about the relationship between the church and state. IMO the church in America has done a poor job advocating for rights and installing quality representatives. Its time to tear down the wall between church and state a little.patreon.com/patriotradio

Dana Ullman – Sociopaths vs. Homeopaths The De-Platforming of Natural Medicine Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of OMTimes Media. Aired Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 2:00 PM PST / 5:00 PM EST Interview with Homeopathic Expert and Author Dana Ullman “The body politic has become so inundated with toxic ironies that our skeptic system has overflowed.” — Swami Beyondananda I was thinking of calling this podcast, “First, They Came For the Homeopaths.” Anyone who grew up in the post World War II world is familiar with the confessional quote by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller: First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. I am deeply saddened to report that we seem to be on a similar track here in “Not-see America.” The COVID crisis and lockdown has been an excellent excuse to censor and de-platform many forms of alternative medicine, particularly those that cannot be owned or controlled by big pharma. This is nothing new. Only now, it has become more blatant. Our guest this week homeopathic expert and author Dana Ullman, will discuss the issue of medical totalitarianism and what we can do about it. He will also reveal some research on what the 1919 pandemic got wrong, and how those misunderstandings are leading to deaths in 2021. He will also talk about a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle that misquoted him and misrepresented his viewpoint, just so they could make a point about “anti-vaxxers.” Dana Ullman is one of America’s leading advocates for homeopathy. He has authored 10 books, including The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy, Homeopathy A-Z, and he co-authored the bestselling Everybody’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicines. Dana also created an e-course How to Use a Homeopathic Medicine Kit which integrates 80 short videos with his famous e-book that is a continually growing resource to 300+ clinical studies published in peer-review medical journals testing homeopathic medicines. If you’ve wanted to understand homeopathy – and medical censorship – better, please join us this Tuesday, May 11th at 2 pm PT / 5 pm ET. To find out more about Dana Ullman and his work, please go here: https://homeopathic.com/ You can read his Huff Post article on Wikipedia and homeopathy here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dysfunction-at-wikipedia-_b_5924226 Support Wiki Politiki — A Clear Voice In the “Bewilderness” If you LOVE what you hear, and appreciate the mission of Wiki Politiki, “put your money where your mouse is” … Join the “upwising” — join the conversation, and become a Wiki Politiki supporter: http://wikipolitiki.com/join-the-upwising/ Make a contribution in any amount via PayPal (https://tinyurl.com/y8fe9dks) Go ahead,

Apostolic Succession in the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches I ran across an interesting website: https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/. It is actually a database of all Roman Catholic bishops, past and present, with their histories. What is really fascinating is that their chain of consecrations are listed, their “family tree” of having hands laid on them by bishops. For Roman Catholics, this unbroken chain of apostolic succession of bishops is considered to be absolutely necessary in their theology for the confection of the sacraments. Or so it seems. Here's the problem: their records of consecrations don't even go back as far as the Reformation. I looked at the episcopal lineages of popes Francis, Benedict, and John Paul. Their consecrations find a common “ancestor” in Pope Clement XIII - who was consecrated in 1743. I looked up the local Roman Catholic archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond. His “ancestry” also runs through pope Clement XIII. Ditto for his predecessor Alfred Hughes. And his predecessor Francis Schulte. And his predecessor Philip Hannan. As a random exercise, I plugged in the bishop of Owensboro, Kentucky: William Medley. Yes, him too. Just for kicks, I looked up the bishop of Mombassa, Kenya (Martin Musonde). Yes, his lineage also runs through Clement XIII, and in fact, he shares a closer link with Abp. Aymond of New Orleans, going back to Pope Pius X (1884). They're practically kissing cousins. Here is what is interesting: Pope Clement XIII's lineage (and thus, it seems, all modern Roman bishops) hits a dead end with Scipone Cardinal Rebiba, the titular Roman Catholic patriarch of Constantinople, who was consecrated as a bishop in 1541. But we have no idea who consecrated him. The line of records stops here. Thus, the oldest recorded history of episcopal lineage for modern Roman bishops is more recent than the Reformation! Interestingly, there are also no lineages for the first several hundred years of popes. The second bishop of Rome, Linus (served 68-79 AD), has no known lineage. Neither does Gregory the Great (590-604). John XVII - pope in the year 1000 - has no known lineage. Pope Julius III - pope in 1500 - has only two known generations. Leo X (of Reformation fame) has a whopping four generations. That's it. So Rome, who ostensibly bases its entire validity on canonical episcopal consecration cannot even trace its own clergy back to the Reformation. Roman Catholics simply have to take it on faith that their bishops (and thus the priests they ordain) are legitimate. Scandinavian Lutheran bishops - and their “descendants” in the Baltics, Russia, and Africa - are likewise consecrated in apostolic succession (though not recognized as such by Rome), as the custom of traditional polity (bishop, priest, and deacon) and episcopal ordination were retained by the Scandinavian Lutherans as salutary traditions in accordance with the desire to do as so stated in our Book of Concord (Ap 14:1). German Lutheran pastors after the Reformation were not ordained by bishops - but rather by other pastors - in a kind of presbyterial succession - which has indeed happened in antiquity and in the middle ages. This is so because Lutheran pastors do not ordain themselves, nor are they ordained by the laity. Our confessions speak of the church ordaining pastors “using their own pastors for this purpose” (SA 3:10, Tr 72). Dr. Arthur Carl Piepkorn referred to this as a “de facto succession of ordained ministers,” and he points out that Jerome considered not only bishops, but presbyters as well, to be “successors of the apostles.” Piepkorn cites several historical instances of presbyters ordaining other presbyters and deacons, including in second century Alexandria and Lyons, as well as the Council of Ancyra (314) that includes a canon (13) that speaks to presbyters carrying out ordinations. Piepkorn also points out that John Cassian (360-435) records the fact that the Egyptian presbyter-abbot Paphnutius ordained his succesor both as a deacon and as a priest, and also that while before their episcopal consecrations, Sts. Willehad and Liudger, in the eighth century, were carrying out ordinations. Piepkorn also cites historical records from the thirteenth and even the fifteenth centuries - including papal bulls - recognizing presbyterial ordinations as valid (see “The Minister of Ordination in the Primitive and Medieval Church,” page 80 of The Church: Selected Writings of Arthur Carl Piepkorn). It seems that the Roman Catholic rejection of Lutheran orders based on our lack of canonically-consecrated bishops as ministers of ordination (as we find in the Papal Confutation in response to AC14) is not based on consistent theology and practice in the Roman Church. Piepkorn participated in “Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue” - which yielded some surprising conclusions (see Volume IV on Eucharist and Ministry). One of the Roman participants (Fr. George Tavard) concluded that presbyterial successions are a matter of history, and said: I would be prepared to go further, and to admit that episcopal succession is not absolutely required for valid ordination…. The main problem, in our ecumenical context, does not lie in evaluating historical lines of succession, but in appreciating the catholicity of Protestantism today. Fellow participant Fr. Harry McSorley concluded, after a thorough study of the Council of Trent: We can say without qualification that there is nothing whatever in the Tridentine doctrine on sacrament of order concerning the reality of the eucharist celebrated by Christians of the Reformation churches. Catholic theologians who have maintained that there is no sacrament of the body and blood of Christ in Protestant churches because Protestant ministers are radically incapable of consecrating the eucharist are incorrect if they think this opinion is necessitated by the teaching of Trent. Of course, we Lutherans don't really care whether or not the papal church recognizes our ordinations or our eucharists as valid (though they do as a matter of course recognize our baptisms). But when examined in light of both actual history and the history of their theology, their exclusive claims regarding apostolicity come unraveled, even by their own pronouncements. And here is the final irony: while modern Roman Bishops cannot prove their line of consecrations even as far back as the Reformation, Lutheran bishops consecrated by means of the Swedish line, can indeed trace their lineages back further. This paper includes an appendix showing the succession of Swedish bishops back to its Roman Catholic “ancestor” who was consecrated in 1524. This means that confessional Lutheran bishops in various church bodies around the world have a greater claim to apostolic succession in the historical sense than even the Roman pope. Here is the episcopal lineage of the Church of Sweden from the paper “Den apostoliska successionen i Svenska kyrkan. En studie av den apostoliska successionens roll i dialogen med Church of England.” 6. Appendix: Svenska kyrkans historiskt dokumenterade vigningslinje Paris de Grassi, biskop av Pesaro, vigde 1524 i sitt hus i Rom Petrus Magni till biskop för Västerås stift som 1531 vigde Laurentius Petri till ärkebiskop för Uppsala stift som 1536 vigde Botvid Sunesson till biskop för Strängnäs stift som 1554 vigde Paul Juusten till biskop för Viborgs stift (1563 Åbo) som 1575 vigde Laurentius Petri Gothus till ärkebiskop för Uppsala stift som 1577 vigde Andreas Laurentii Björnram till biskop för Växjö stift (1583 Uppsala) som 1583 vigde Petrus Benedicti till biskop för Västerås stift (1587 Linköping) som 1594 vigde Abraham Angermannus till ärkebiskop för Uppsala stift som 1595 vigde Petrus Kenicius till biskop för Skara stift (1608 Strängnäs, 1609 Uppsala) som 1601 vigde Olaus Martini till ärkebiskop för Uppsala stift som 1608 vigde Laurentius Paulinus Gothus till biskop för Skara stift (1609 Strängnäs, 1637 Uppsala) som 1641 vigde Jonas Magni Wexionensis till biskop för Skara stift som 1647 vigde Johannes Lenaeus till ärkebiskop för Uppsala stift som 1668 vigde Johannes Baazius d.y. till biskop för Växjö stift (1673 Skara, 1677 Uppsala) som 1678 vigde Olaus Svebilius till biskop för Linköpings stift (1681 Uppsala) som 1695 vigde Mattias Steuchius till biskop för Lunds stift (1714 Uppsala) som 1726 vigde Eric Benzelius d.y. till biskop för Göteborgs stift (1731 Linköping, 1742 Uppsala) som 1742 vigde Henrik Benzelius till biskop för Lunds stift (1747 Uppsala) som 1757 vigde Carl Fredrik Mennander till biskop för Åbo stift (1775 Uppsala) som 1781 vigde Uno von Troil till biskop för Linköpings stift (1786 Uppsala) som 1787 vigde Jacob Axelsson Lindblom till biskop för Linköpings stift (1805 Uppsala) som 1809 vigde Carl von Rosenstein till biskop för Linköpings stift (1819 Uppsala) som 1824 vigde Johan Olof Wallin till biskop för Kungliga Serafimerorden (1837 Uppsala) som 1839 vigde Hans Olof Holmström till biskop för Strängnäs stift (1852 Uppsala) som 1855 vigde Henrik Reuterdahl till biskop för Lunds stift (1856 Uppsala) som 1864 vigde Anton Niklas Sundberg till biskop för Karlstad stift (1870 Uppsala) som 1890 vigde Martin Johansson till biskop för Härnösand stift som 1904 vigde Olof Bergquist till biskop för Luleå stift som 1932 vigde Erling Eidem till ärkebiskop för Uppsala stift som 1948 vigde Gunnar Hultgren till biskop för Visby stift (1950 Härnösand, 1958 Uppsala) som 1959 vigde Ruben Josefsson till biskop för Härnösand stift (1967 Uppsala) som 1970 vigde Olof Sundby till biskop för Växjö stift (1972 Uppsala) som 1975 vigde Bertil Werkström till biskop för Härnösand stift (1983 Uppsala) som 1986 vigde Gunnar Weman till biskop för Luleå stift (1993 Uppsala) som 1995 vigde Anders Wejryd till biskop för Växjö stift som blev ärkebiskop för Uppsala stift 2006 As an appendix to the appendix, Paris de Grassi, also known as Paride de Grassis (the bishop of Pesaro Italy who consecrated the first Swedish bishop), has a few more “generations” in his lineage: Achille Cardinal Grassi † (1506) Bishop of Bologna Pope Julius II (1481) (Giuliano della Rovere †) Pope Sixtus IV (1471) (Francesco della Rovere, O.F.M. †) Guillaume Cardinal d'Estouteville, O.S.B. † Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia (e Velletri) Cardinal Guillaume was consecrated a bishop in 1439. Thus modern Lutheran bishops have historical documentation of their successions dating back to 1439 - more than a century earlier than Roman bishops, whose records dead-end at 1541.

This week we look at Keir Starmer and Jesus House, NSW and White Privilege, Noah Green, LGBT and German Lutherans, Covid and the Churches, Top piece of Classical music,  The End of Law, Tik Tok, Propaganda in Scotland and China, Ewan Gurr and Restore, 20th Anniversary of in Christ Alone, the attack on Capitol Hill, Transgender Spies, Peace and Dave Alvin.

The German Lutheran Church in East Melbourne is "A Congregation joined in prayer and fellowship". On Easter Monday, we touched base with Jörg Hildebrand, Deputy chairman of the church council, to find out more. - Die Dreifaltigkeitsgemeinde Melbourne ist "Eine Gemeinschaft in Gebet und Geselligkeit". Mehr dazu, in einem Interview zum Ostermontag, mit Jörg Hildebrand, Stellvertretender Vorsitzender des Kirchenvorstandes.

Good Friday – Oh, Darkest Woe 4.2.21 | Rev. Dr. Lawrence Olson At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. (John 19:41-42) Their hearts were heavy as they buried Jesus on that dark Friday. They might have thought many things about that day, but as they laid him in the tomb, they almost certainly would not have called it “good.” Johann Rist (1607-1667), a German Lutheran pastor, was a prolific writer. Two hundred of the approximately 680 hymns that he penned were in common use during his time. “Oh, Darkest Woe” is among those that continue to be used to this day. Rist wrote “Oh, Darkest Woe” in 1641. When he published it, he included this heading: “A Mournful Graveside Song on the Sorrowful Burial of Our Savior Jesus Christ, to Be Sung on Good Friday.” He noted, “The first verse of this funeral hymn, along with its devotional melody, came accidentally into my hands. As I was greatly pleased with it, I added the other seven verses as they stand here, since I could not be a party to the other verses.” Rist objected to false teachings in those verses, so he took the first verse of what Friedrich Spee wrote in 1628 and added verses faithful to Scripture. Christian Worship includes five of the original verses in Rist’s “mournful graveside song.” The first two lines of the second verse may reflect one of the thoughts swirling through the minds of those who laid Jesus in his tomb: “Oh, sorrow dread! God’s Son is dead!” The original German is forceful, even startling. “O grosse Not! Gott selbst liegt Tot”: “Oh, great distress! God himself lies dead.” “God’s Son,” Jesus the Christ, was and is God and man in one person. He was and is “God himself.” Our jaws drop. “God himself lies dead”? How can this be? Why? Why? The answer is the reason that we call this Friday “good”: on this day Jesus died for the sins of the world. As Rist put it in his hymn, “by his expiation of our guilt upon the cross,” Jesus “gained for us salvation.” “Expiation” refers to taking away guilt through the payment of a penalty. The Bible is clear: “The wages of sin is death.” Jesus paid those wages for the world. “God himself” took our place and shed his innocent blood on the cross. That changes everything. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). Satan and his demons celebrated when Jesus was laid in the tomb. Hell’s celebration continued Friday night, throughout Saturday, and into Sunday, but it ended early that morning. Jesus, who had been dead, rose to life and left that tomb empty. Jesus is alive, and death is defeated. Remember that while we wait for Sunday. O Jesus blest, my Help and Rest, With tears I now entreat you: Make me love you to the last Till in heaven I greet you. Amen. Rev. Dr. Lawrence Olson serves Martin Luther College as a professor of theology and as director of the Staff Ministry Program and Congregational Assistant Program.

Check out the Lutheran Historical Conference, where I first presented this material.  My article will soon appear in the conference's journal.  German Lutheran immigrant Friedrich Schmidt began a German-language Lutheran newspaper in August 1838.  Initially, Schmidt and his Lutherische Kirchenzeitung got along quite well with Benjamin Kurtz and the well-established Lutheran Observer.  Indeed, Kurtz chaired the committee that launched the Kirchenzeitung, and Schmidt's first number spared no praise for the Observer.  The two men would later participate in one of the earliest open battles between Confessional Lutheranism and American Lutheranism.Each paper seemed to have an unwritten agreement to be the primary Lutheran paper for its own language sphere.  However, over the years it became apparent that the differences between the papers were much deeper than the language.  In 1841 Schmidt commented that the Observer was always defending and recommending religious innovations of the 2nd Great Awakening called the New Measures, which included practices like revivals and altar calls.  Yet, the Kirchenzeitung consistently defended Old Lutheranism.  Schmidt kept his concerns to himself until he published a letter complaining that the Observer had, in poor taste, attacked the chorrock, the traditional liturgical garb of Lutheran pastors.  The Observer declared that the Kirchenzeitung was now its opponent.  So, Schmidt responded by denouncing the Observer's various unLutheran, (Schmidt called them unchristian) views on the sacraments and other doctrines.At the heart of the short newspaper war was the argument over the Church.  Kurtz and others would argue that the American Lutheran Church had never been strictly confessional.  American Lutheranism was its own brand of Lutheranism—never mind that it largely mirrored and conformed to mainstream American Christianity which was dominated by Calvinism.  Schmidt was likely the first in 19th century America to so publicly argue that true Lutherans were identified by holding to the Lutheran Confessions because they correctly confessed the teachings of the Scriptures.While some Lutherans denounced Schmidt for being a divisive influence, many others stood by him.  Schmidt's battle challenged many heretofore indifferent Lutherans to examine doctrinal issues and purify their positions.Lutheran History ShopSupport the show

In this episode, I’ll be speaking with Jamie Furbush, President & CEO of the Frankenmuth Chamber of Commerce & Convention and Visitors Bureau. Jamie has been in that role for over 12 years and has worked for the organization for 19 years. In the spirit of this episode premiering during the holidays, I thought it would be fun to embrace the winter holiday season and highlight one of the United States’ most magical Christmas towns – Frankenmuth, Michigan! This, in turn, will make the episode a bit more festive than outdoorsy, but don’t worry! I still wanted to keep outdoorsy elements in it for everyone, so at the end of the episode, we will switch over to a summer day in Frankenmuth. Join Jamie and me on a tour of Frankenmuth, Michigan. We start our day out at one of Frankenmuth's amazing waterparks, make sure all of our holiday shopping is finished around town, and enjoy a world-famous chicken dinner, all while also taking in all of the town's holiday feels! Then, in the end, we also cover a few warm-weather outdoorsy adventures that can be enjoyed in Michigan’s Little Bavaria as well!   About Jamie Furbush Jamie is a born and raised Michigander who loves living in Pure Michigan and representing the Michigan travel industry.   What We Cover in This Episode The two best times to visit Michigan’s Little Bavaria. How Frankenmuth’s entrepreneurial roots make it a special place not only to visit but also to live. Why Frankenmuth has such a festive history. What time of year Frankenmuth switches over to Christmas decor. The two most adventurous places to stay in town. The best spots for breakfast in Frankenmuth. Learn about the largest Christmas store in the world and why it’s worth a visit! Where to get a world-famous chicken dinner. Why the world-famous chicken dinner is so special. The best spots to get lunch or dinner after you’ve already had the world-famous chicken dinner. The best ways to take in all of the holiday feels while in town. A local snow festival that takes place every year post-Christmas. A tip on the best time of the week to visit Frankenmuth. The best Instagram spots in Frankenmuth. Two fan favorites that may or may not be worth your time in Frankenmuth. Four outdoor adventures that are not to be missed during a summer trip to Frankenmuth. Why Frankenmuth is worth a holiday visit.   Quotables "Hospitality is a really important piece, I think, of what people love about Frankenmuth and why people continue to come back generation after generation. But that’s really a thing that’s rooted in the people that live in and run their businesses here. Most of our businesses are family owned and operated. And so, it’s a community of entrepreneurs. And you know, when we look at the year that we’re dealing with here, I’m just inspired all the time by how our businesses continue to reinvent themselves and support community causes. And continue to make it not only great but better. It’s just really a great place to be surrounded by people who care about each other." "Frankenmuth’s really best known for Chicken and Christmas! We’re also known as Michigan’s Little Bavaria … our roots of the community are German. We were settled by 15 German Lutheran missionaries. And so the roots and the heritage of the community have always been very, very important. And you can see that and feel that as you’re walking the streets." "Frankenmuth’s always evolving. So, the businesses that exist are constantly reinventing themselves and adding things to their own businesses." "Coming to Frankenmuth is an experience that people remember. It’s creating memories with your loved ones, whether it’s your family or friends. That’s really what it’s all about. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing when you’re here. I think it’ll be a memorable experience and one that you’ll all remember together and you know, that time together is what’s most precious. And so, I love looking out my window and seeing families connecting. Sometimes we’ll see fathers sort of skipping along with their kids, and, you know, it’s that time to let your guard down and just enjoy each other’s presence. And that’s, to me, what’s really special about our streets. It sort of brings out that magic. And it’s part of the charm I think of our community."   Links to Places Mentioned in this Episode Where to Stay in Frankenmuth, Michigan: Bavarian Inn Lodge Zehnder’s Splash Village Frankenmuth, Michigan Winter Activities Mentioned in this Episode: Frankenmuth Fudge Kitchen Amazin’ Mitten Kernel Benny’s Popcorn Frankenmuth House of Cigar Frankenmuth Brewery Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland Silent Night Chapel at Bronner’s Frankenmuth Cheese Haus Zehnder’s Snowfest Frankenmuth, Michigan Instagram Picture Spots Mentioned in this Episode: Christmas Guide Mentioned in the Episode Holz-Brücke Wooden Bridge Frankenmuth Cheese Haus mouse, Klaus Frankenmuth, Michigan Summer Outdoor Activities Mentioned in this Episode: Kayaking the Cass River Bavarian Belle Riverboat (Paddlewheel Boat Mentioned) Frankenmuth FunShips The Adventure Park at Frankenmuth PedAle Trolley Frankenmuth, Michigan Restaurants Mentioned in this Episode: The Harvest Coffeehouse Honey B’s Eatery Bavarian Inn Restaurant Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth Tiffany’s da Vinci’s Michigan on Main Willi’s Sausage Co   Thanks for Listening! We love our listeners! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave me a comment below and let me know about your favorite part! If you’ve been enjoying the show, please also consider leaving me a review in Apple Podcasts. It’s super easy; click here and go to “ratings and reviews.” I read and appreciate every single one! Each review helps new listeners find the podcast. Thank you!! Follow Cinders Travels on Facebook or Instagram for Locals Know Best updates. 

Bishop Carl Mengeling was the Bishop of Lansing from 1996 until 2008. This week witnessed a Mass of Thanksgiving offered in Saint Mary Cathedral to mark the 25th anniversary of Bishop Mengeling ordination to the episcopate and, also, his 90th birthday. Ad multos annos! In the hours beforehand, Bishop Mengeling sat down with the diocesan Director of Communications, David Kerr, to look back over his life including: * His upbringing in Indiana within a family of immigrant German Lutherans. * His conversion to Catholicism at the age of nine. * His journey to the sacred priesthood and his ordination. * His role as a page at the Second Vatican Council in Rome. * His surprise at being named a bishop at the age of 65 and to a diocese he had never visited. * His happiest memories from his years as the Bishop of Lansing. Recorded Wednesday, December 9, 2020. Diocese of Lansing Podcast #20.

Ted asks why the consistently delivered word and sacrament, Jesus Christ died-and-risen for your sins, doesn’t have outsiders storming Lutheran doors to receive it. Rod talks about the Lutheran church, some of the LCMS history, the nature of German Lutherans and communication skills, and the history of Lutherans’ tendency to be insular. SHOW NOTES: Support the show - https://www.1517.org/donate

Catherine Winkworth (1827–1878) was not German; neither was she Lutheran. How, then, did this 19th-century Anglican literary spinster become the foremost translator of German Lutheran hymns into English? In her new “Story Time” episode, Sarah introduces Erin, Bri, and Rachel to the life and times of Lutheranism's most ubiquitous female translator, the woman who penned the English lyrics to many of the our most cherished hymns, including “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,” “From Heav'n Above to Earth I Come,” and “Now Thank We All Our God.” From her sickly childhood, to her distinctive education, travels abroad, translation work, and advocacy for women's education, to her untimely death in 1878, Winkworth's life was marked by faith, hope, and loving devotion to her craft. This episode is sure to give you a new understanding and appreciation of this remarkable woman and the hymn lyrics she left behind. Connect with the Lutheran ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and follow Sarah (@mrsbaseballpants), Rachel (@rachbomberger), Erin (@erin.alter), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram.

Abram Korn was 16 when the Nazis invaded his hometown of Lipno, Poland, on September 1, 1939, the first day of World War II. He survived the entire war as a Jewish prisoner, enduring the ghettos, the horrific concentration camps, the Death March from Auschwitz. Astoundingly, Abe kept his sense of human dignity–with gangrenous feet he struggled to stay on the healthy-workers list; with scant supplies he bargained for food and coal and helped others survive. Abe always believed he could live one more day, and on April 11, 1945, when the Buchenwald camp was liberated, he was finally free. After Liberation, Abe focused on going to school and earning a living. He began rebuilding his life with other survivors in Germany. Eventually, as a man earnest to forgive past sins and take individuals at face value, he married a German Lutheran, who later converted to Judaism. They moved to the United States, where they raised their family and built a remarkably successful automotive business. By the time Abe died in 1972, he had almost completed a rough first draft of his memoirs. His eldest son, Joseph, recently prepared Abe’s manuscript for publication. Abe’s Story: A Holocaust Memoir was released on April 11, 1995, the fiftieth anniversary of his liberation from Buchenwald Concentration Camp. To the family he raised proudly in the Jewish tradition, Abram Korn left a legacy of powerful inspiration. For modern readers seeking the best in Holocaust literature and riveting drama, Abe’s Story is an incredible story of hope, of the human potential to do good in the face of horrible evil. All who read Abe’s Story seem to apply it to their lives today. It inspires them to persevere, despite any obstacles in their paths.

• German Lutherans declare fellowship with six new church bodies • Israel unveils Roman road 'Jesus walked' to reach Temple in Jerusalem • Church of England rejects plea for worshippers to pay to help train refugees as doctors and...

Creative Church, a German Lutheran foundation, has produced another musical for mass choirs: Martin Luther King - A Dream Changes the World. In a series of flashbacks the show sketches the life of the great American civil rights leader and Nobel laureate from the perspective of his fellow activists.

Chris and Atko Remmel discuss Estonia, a context in which notions and debates on religion, atheism, and indifference are interrelated in complex ways with the history of nationalism, and two foreign religious-secular regimes: German Lutheran and Soviet Atheism.

The poem that begins “First they came for the socialists, and I did not not speak out --- because I was not a socialist,” goes through a series of other oppressed, but ignored, groups, and ends with, “and then they came for me --- and there was no one left to speak for me,” is one of the most touching and thought-provoking expressions of human and communal responsibility of the 20th Century. It was, of course, said by Pastor Martin Niemöller, a German Lutheran, after the World War II and the Holocaust. But the history of that poem is just as heart-rending, and prompts just as much self-reflection about political and social responsibility as anything that came out of that horrific period. Please listen.

German Lutheran pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, “When Christ calls (someone) He bids (them) come and die.”  These words cut right down into the nitty gritty of what discipleship, what following Jesus is all about.  You see, the central question, the big defining question of Christianity, is “Who is willing to follow Jesus Christ?”  And, Jesus places that question before us today with a real sense of urgency.  Today, Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”  In response, impetuous, impulsive Peter gets all excited and professes that Jesus is indeed the long-promised Messiah.  Jesus then begins to explain things to his disciples saying, “It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive.”  As soon as Peter hears this, he immediately backs away and rebukes Jesus.  Jesus’ words shatter the glamor of following this long-expected Messiah.  This is certainly not the kind of life Peter wants to undertake.  While Jesus seems to be the Messiah, the Jewish people had never expected a leader who must suffer and die.  That was simply ludicrous and irrational.  Who in their right mind chooses to “proceed to an ordeal of suffering” as Jesus says he is doing?  And, who in their right mind wants to follow a leader who is on his way to die?  Well, Jesus continues to teach his disciples about what following him is really going to mean.  He says, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead.  You’re not in the driver’s seat, I am.  Don’t run from suffering, embrace it.  If any of you want to follow me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Follow me and I’ll show you how.  Self-help is no help at all.  Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self.  What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?  What could you ever trade your soul for?”  Well, Jesus’ words did not go over well with Peter and quite honestly, they don’t go over well with us.  Most of us choose religion and come to believe important things deeply because we feel they are good for us.  And, we like a religion that makes us feel good.  We like a faith that fits our comfortable, recreational life styles.  We tend to like a faith in which we can participate when we choose to participate.  We want a faith that does not demand too much from us.  Furthermore, we want to follow a strong God who “heals our illnesses, provides ample prosperity, guarantees security, urges our sports teams onto victory, and generally keeps us happy, healthy and wise.” (David Lose)  So, when we hear what Jesus is saying, we too respond by thinking suffering is not appealing.  If anyone of us are offered a life of suffering versus a life free from suffering, you can be your bottom dollar we are going to go for the one that is pain free!  Yet, this is where we must get very honest about the Christian life.  First of all, nobody’s life is ever going to be pain free or free from suffering.  And, Christianity is not about living an easier life, living a life free from pain, or believing in a God we can turn to as our personal Santa Claus to help solve life’s problems and give us all we want.  The point at which Jesus shares this teaching with his disciples is a pivot point in Mark’s telling of the Jesus story.  From this point on in Mark’s gospel, Jesus begins to show us how to die.  We have been given life and Jesus now demonstrates how we are to give it up and give it away.  I think for most of us, this is an idea that runs counter to all that we want to believe.  It really does seem irrational.  Yet, Jesus makes it absolutely clear that God does not care about giving us all of the things that make for creature comforts.  What God does care about are matters of the heart.  Jesus makes it clear that if you want to have a deeply meaningful life that truly matters, you are going to have to hand over your petty obsessions and mistaken priorities.  Quite frankly, following Jesus means living a very counter-cultural life and letting go of self, letting go of the intense narcissistic focus on self, a self-interest and focus that runs rampant in our culture.  You are going to have to think more about loving than being loved, more about working to understand than being understood, and more about forgiving than being forgiven.  I love the way Lutheran pastor, Peter Marty, describes our dilemma when asked to follow Jesus.  He writes: Near as I can tell, we can try to safe-deposit-box our lives all we want and be very, very cautious about whom we even let into our lives.  But this is not commendable living.  In fact, according to Jesus, it’s downright dangerous living.  We’ll lose our soul if we’re not careful.  Living a life that really matters in the name of Jesus will not allow room for clutching or hoarding or playing it safe.  It asks instead for a less possessive way – a way that treats life more like a precious gift to be shared than a commodity to be stored up.   The life that has been packaged and continues to be packaged and sold to us in this culture is not real life and we need to die to those illusions if we want to live into the abundant life God wants for us.  Furthermore, the life of which Jesus speaks is not something we can buy or earn.  Like love and grace, it is all gift and can only be given away.  And, the deep truth Jesus is trying to tell us, a truth Bonhoeffer knew so well, is that only when you give your life away for the sake of others, only through serving, loving and caring for others, do you really discover life, life that truly matters.  When we are able to finally let go of the ego, the cult of self which is really the false self, that part of ourselves which believes we are in charge, or self-sufficient, then we finally begin to live life that truly matters. This dying to self is painful, but it allows us to be open to whole new vistas of abundant life.  When we are finally able to let go of self, to let go of our worry, to let go of our anxiety, to let go of our need to control, to let go of all that holds us captive and then really die to self, we discover that God is already in that place, walking with us and holding us in love.  It is then that we discover what the cross really means.  It is the cross that gives us life, life that truly matters.  And we discover the cross means loving and serving others as we are loved.  As Jesus begins his relentless march to the cross, he challenges each one of us to follow.  Today, Jesus demands a decision from each one of us as he asks us, “Will you follow me where I am going?”   Will we follow this man to the place where he is going?  What will your decision be?

My friend Mira, raised as a Traditional Jew, talks with me about living in the South, dodging Bibles, being damned to Hell, and how delicious Jewish Food is. (Protip: buy a Kosher turkey next Thanksgiving.) Stuff referenced in this episode: "First They Came..." - a poem by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches: The Riddles of Culture by Marvin Harris Reviews and ratings are always appreciated!

Dr. Haralabatos considers herself an atheist and a secular humanist. Her mom was Lutheran and her dad was Greek Orthodox. However, while she was growing up her family attended a Methodist church every Sunday. She was very rational from a young age and remembers questioning stories in the Bible like Noah's Ark.  One day, as a young girl she was searching for some chocolate. What she ended up discovering would unravel some big mysteries. Dr. Haralabatos had some great advice on how to respond and relate to Christians when they ask us to pray for them. As a physician, she's occasionally been asked to pray when delivering difficult news to her patients.  Dr. Haralabatos received her MD from Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine and served her residency in internal medicine at Parkland Memorial Hospital. She completed her fellowship training in Allergy and Immunology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She is Board Certified in Allergy and Immunology.  Twitter: @rini6      

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #112! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is an American organist Robert L. Morehead, CAGO. He is a native of Pittsburgh and is the Director of Music Ministries at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Vienna, Virginia. Robert began his organ studies at the age of twelve in Germany under the instruction of Tassilo Schlenther. For twenty years, Robert has held Director of Music positions in German Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Evangelical Lutheran churches. Robert holds a Bachelor's of Music degree in Organ Performance from Malone University in Canton, Ohio. While at Malone, Robert received instruction from W. Robert Morrison, FAGO and also earned a piano teaching certificate. Over the years, Robert has earned three organ certifications: the D-Schein from the Lutheran Church in Germany, the Service Playing certificate from the American Guild of Organists, and the Collegaue certification from the American Guild of Organists. Robert is a fifteen-year member of the American Guild of Organists, and has served on the Executive Committee for the Lehigh Valley chapter. He continued his organ studies in Allentown, PA with Stephen C. Williams. Robert has served as Director of Music at St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Red Hill, PA, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Kreidersville, PA, and as Contemporary Worship Coordinator at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Pennsburg, PA. In addition to managing his own piano studio in the Lehigh and Perkiomen valleys, he was the choral director of the Lehigh Valley Saengerbund in Allentown, PA. In 2007, Robert received his Master's degree in Music History from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, where he also earned a research award from the university for his work on the topics of Ralph Vaughan Williams' agnosticism. Robert's thesis was based on the jazz organ music of Dr. Joe Utterback of Rowayton, Connecticut. He also has played harpsichord and sung for the Renaissance and Early Music ensemble, Collegium Musicum, at West Chester. In July 2009, Robert returned to the Pittsburgh area. Until May 2011, he was the Director of Worship and Music at Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA. Robert served as Director of Worship and Music at Beulah Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA from 2011-2016. On August 1, 2016 Robert began his ministry at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Vienna, VA. In his free time, Robert is a free-lance recitalist and composer performing throughout the United States and Germany. In this conversation, Robert shares his ideas about his organ practice, coordination between hands and feet, fingering, hymn playing and challenging your listeners in his work as a church musician. Enjoy and share your comments below. ​And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends. And if you like it, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review. This helps to get this podcast in front of more organists who would find it helpful. Thanks for caring. Related Links: https://www.rmorehead.com http://elcvienna.org Robert's channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIPoozArfbZNmNqXC4Xuqmw

We welcome guest pastor Rev. Philip Zielinski from St. Paul Lutheran Church in Valley City, Ohio. He and host Kip Allen dive into the following questions: What is our response as Christians to the morality or immorality of this world? How do we know when a war or armed response is justified? How does natural law fit into this? What does Luther say about war and conflicts? What about the "right" side doing immoral things in war? For our German Lutheran ancestors, how could they fight for the Nazi cause? What about assassination, or the targeting of a specific individual? Send us your questions! Email letstalk@kfuo.org with your questions for our guest pastors.

This episode is about the Easter Bunny The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behaviour at the start of the season of Eastertide.  The Easter Bunny is sometimes depicted with clothes. In legend, the creature carries colored eggs in his basket, candy, and sometimes also toys to the homes of children, and as such shows similarities to Santa Claus or the Christkind, as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holidays. The custom was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Franckenau's De ovis paschalibus (About Easter Eggs) in 1682 referring to a German tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter eggs for the children. The hare was a popular motif in medieval church art. In ancient times, it was widely believed (as by Pliny, Plutarch, Philostratus, and Aelian) that the hare was a hermaphrodite.  The idea that a hare could reproduce without loss of virginity led to an association with the Virgin Mary, with hares sometimes occurring in illuminated manuscripts and Northern European paintings of the Virgin and Christ Child.  It may also have been associated with the Holy Trinity, as in the three hares motif.   Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of antiquity. Since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox. Rabbits and hares are both prolific breeders. Female hares can conceive a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with the first.  This phenomenon is known as superfetation.  Lagomorphs mature sexually at an early age and can give birth to several litters a year (hence the saying, "to breed like rabbits" or "to breed like bunnies"). It is therefore not surprising that rabbits and hares should become fertility symbols, or that their springtime mating antics should enter into Easter folklore. The Bible makes no mention of a long-eared, short-tailed creature who delivers decorated eggs to well-behaved children on Easter Sunday; nevertheless, the Easter bunny has become a prominent symbol of Christianity’s most important holiday.  The exact origins of this mythical mammal are unclear, but rabbits, known to be prolific procreators, are an ancient symbol of fertility and new life. Eggs. In addition, Orthodox churches have a custom of abstaining from eggs during the fast of Lent.  The only way to keep them from being wasted was to boil or roast them, and begin eating them to break the fast.  As a special dish, they would probably have been decorated as part of the celebrations.  Later, German Protestants retained the custom of eating colored eggs for Easter, though they did not continue the tradition of fasting.  Eggs boiled with some flowers change their color, bringing the spring into the homes, and some over time added the custom of decorating the eggs.  Many Christians of the Eastern Orthodox Church to this day typically dye their Easter eggs red, the color of blood, in recognition of the blood of the sacrificed Christ (and, of the renewal of life in springtime). Some also use the color green, in honor of the new foliage emerging after the long-dead time of winter.  The Ukrainian art of decorating eggs for Easter, known as pysanky, dates to ancient, pre-Christian times. Similar variants of this form of artwork are seen amongst other eastern and central European cultures. Easter is a religious holiday, but some of its customs, such as Easter eggs, are likely linked to pagan traditions.  The egg, an ancient symbol of new life, has been associated with pagan festivals celebrating spring.  From a Christian perspective, Easter eggs are said to represent Jesus’ emergence from the tomb and resurrection.  Decorating eggs for Easter is a tradition that dates back to at least the 13th century, according to some sources.  One explanation for this custom is that eggs were formerly a forbidden food during the Lenten season, so people would paint and decorate them to mark the end of the period of penance and fasting, then eat them on Easter as a celebration. According to some sources, the Easter bunny first arrived in America in the 1700s with German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania and transported their tradition of an egg-laying hare called “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws.” Their children made nests in which this creature could lay its colored eggs.  The idea of an egg-giving hare went to the U.S. in the 18th century.  Protestant German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area told their children about the "Osterhase" (sometimes spelled "Oschter Haws").  Hase means "hare", not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the "Easter Bunny" indeed is a hare.  According to the legend, only good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnets before Easter.  Eventually, the custom spread across the U.S. and the fabled rabbit’s Easter morning deliveries expanded to include chocolate and other types of candy and gifts, while decorated baskets replaced nests. Additionally, children often left out carrots for the bunny in case he got hungry from all his hopping. Easter egg hunts and egg rolling are two popular egg-related traditions. In the U.S., the White House Easter Egg Roll, a race in which children push decorated, hard-boiled eggs across the White House lawn, is an annual event held the Monday after Easter.  The first official White House egg roll occurred in 1878, when Rutherford B. Hayes was president.  The event has no religious significance, although some people have considered egg rolling symbolic of the stone blocking Jesus’ tomb being rolled away, leading to his resurrection. Association with Ēostre In his 1835 Deutsche Mythology, Jacob Grimm states "The Easter Hare is unintelligible to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara".  This proposed association was repeated by other authors including Charles Isaac Elton and Charles J Billson.  In 1961 Christina Hole wrote 'The hare was the sacred beast of Eastre (or Eostre), a Saxon goddess of Spring and of the dawn'.  The belief that Ēostre had a hare companion who became the Easter Bunny was popularized when it was presented as fact in the BBC documentary Shadow of the Hare (1993). The Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore however states "... there is no shred of evidence" that hares were sacred to Ēostre, noting that Bede does not associate her with any animal. Transformed bird? Sarah Ben Breathnach in Mrs Sharp's Traditions (1990) provides an origin story for the Easter Bunny: "According to legend, Eostre's favorite animal was a large handsome bird, which in a fit of anger she turned into a hare." Another version of this story, in which Ēostre transforms the bird into a hare in an act of mercy, was written by Jean-Andrew Dickmann and appeared in Cricket magazine.  Both Breathnach and Dickmann present their respective 'transformed bird' stories as if they were legend, though no earlier version of either has been attested Easter Bunny Did You Know? The largest Easter egg ever made was over 25 feet high and weighed over 8,000 pounds. It was built out of choclate and marshmallow and supported by an internal steel frame. Easter Candy Easter is the second best-selling candy holiday in America, after Halloween. Among the most popular sweet treats associated with this day are chocolate eggs, which date back to early 19th century Europe.  Eggs have long been associated with Easter as a symbol of new life and Jesus’ resurrection.  Another egg-shaped candy, the jelly bean, became associated with Easter in the 1930s (although the jelly bean’s origins reportedly date all the way back to a Biblical-era concoction called a Turkish Delight).  According to the National Confectioners Association, over 16 billion jelly beans are made in the U.S. each year for Easter, enough to fill a giant egg measuring 89 feet high and 60 feet wide.  For the past decade, the top-selling non-chocolate Easter candy has been the marshmallow Peep, a sugary, pastel-colored confection.  Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based candy manufacturer Just Born (founded by Russian immigrant Sam Born in 1923) began selling Peeps in the 1950s.  The original Peeps were handmade, marshmallow-flavored yellow chicks, but other shapes and flavors were later introduced, including chocolate mousse bunnies. Easter Parade In New York City, the Easter Parade tradition dates back to the mid-1800s, when the upper crust of society would attend Easter services at various Fifth Avenue churches then stroll outside afterward, showing off their new spring outfits and hats.  Average citizens started showing up along Fifth Avenue to check out the action.  The tradition reached its peak by the mid-20th century, and in 1948, the popular film Easter Parade was released, starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland and featuring the music of Irving Berlin.  The title song includes the lyrics: “In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it/You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.” The Easter Parade tradition lives on in Manhattan, with Fifth Avenue from 49th Street to 57th Street being shut down during the day to traffic.  Participants often sport elaborately decorated bonnets and hats. The event has no religious significance, but sources note that Easter processions have been a part of Christianity since its earliest days.  Today, other cities across America also have their own parades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Bunny http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/easter-symbols Rabbits at Easter A smiling child in an adorable outfit clutches a cute baby bunny in her arms. What's wrong with this picture? Contrary to Eastertime hype, rabbits and small children are not a good match.  The natural exuberance, rambunctiousness and decibel-level of even the gentlest toddler are stressful for the sensitive rabbit.  It is the rare child who will enjoy and appreciate the rabbit's subtle and sensitive nature. Another misconception is that rabbits are passive and cuddly.  They are ground-loving creatures who feel frightened and insecure when held and restrained. Children like a companion they can hold, carry, and cuddle, just as they do their favorite stuffed animal.  It is unreasonable to expect a child to be able to take full responsibility for the care of a rabbit, or to make a 10-year commitment to anything!  All too often, the child loses interest, and the rabbit ends up neglected or abandoned. Some people think rabbits are a "low-maintenance" pet. In fact, they require almost as much work as a dog.  If they are going to be a house rabbit, they must be housetrained. The house must be bunny-proofed, or Thumper will chew electrical cords, rugs, books, and furniture.  They must be spayed or neutered, or they will mark your house with feces and urine.  They must live indoors, as members of the family.  Rabbits kept in hutches outdoors have an average lifespan of about 4-5 years; house rabbits can live 8 to 10 years.  Predators abound, not only in rural areas but in urban and suburban locations as well.  Outdoor rabbits become bored and depressed from isolation.  To consign these sensitive, intelligent, social animals to life in a hutch is to miss all the joy of sharing your life with a rabbit.  Unless he's part of your daily routine, you will not have the opportunity to really get to know his subtle personality. Clearly, rabbits are not for everyone! Are you a gentle adult who lives in a quiet household?  Are you eager to get to know rabbits on their own terms - to spend time down at their level, on the floor; to allow the rabbit to initiate gestures of friendship and trust?  If you think you are one of those rare individuals who would enjoy sharing life with a rabbit, please visit your local animal shelter or rabbit-rescue group.  As rabbits have increased in popularity, they are suffering the same fate as our other companion animals - abandonment.  You can also check your local veterinary clinic and "Pets" classifieds of your newspaper. It's a sad fact that no matter where you live, you are within 10 miles of a rabbit who needs a home.  The effort made to find that special bunny means you are saving a life. So if little Susie is pleading for a bunny for Easter, do a rabbit a favor, and buy her a toy rabbit that she can snuggle to her heart's content.  Let's make Easter a joyful time for our long-eared friends http://www.rabbit.org/adoption/easter.html Easter Bunny by Mary Brandolino In memory of all the bunnies we couldn't save. I remember Easter Sunday It was colorful and fun The new life that I'd begun In my new cage. I was just a little thing When they brought me from the store And they put me on the floor In my cage. They would take me out to play Love and pet me all the time Then at day's end I would climb In my cage. But as days and weeks went by I saw less of them it seemed Of their loving touch I dreamed In my cage. In the night outside their house I felt sad and so neglected Often scared and unprotected In my cage. In the dry or rainy weather Sometimes hotter sometimes colder I just sat there growing older In my cage. The cat and dog raced by me Playing with each other only While I sat there feeling lonely In my cage. Upon the fresh green grass Children skipped and laughed all day I could only watch them play From my cage. They used to take me out And let me scamper in the sun I no longer get to run In my cage. Once a cute and cuddly bunny Like a little ball of cotton Now I'm grown up and forgotten In my cage. I don't know what went wrong At the home I did inhabit I just grew to be a rabbit In my cage. But they've brought me to the pound I was once loved and enjoyed Now I wait to be destroyed In my cage. http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-7/brandolino-poem.html   Easter is a season that has popularized the purchase of rabbits as surprise "Easter bunnies" for young people Easter morning. Please remember to learn about how to care for a rabbit prior to purchase and that rabbits are a 5-10 year commitment. Impulse buys without thorough research are unfair to both the rabbit as well as the family.  The best surprise you can give on Easter morning is an ARBA membership!  Join the global leader in rabbit care, education, and excellence. Included with membership is our "ARBA Guide to Raising Better Rabbits and Cavies", a comprehensive guide to caring for every type of domestic rabbit.  In addition to the Guidebook, members receive 6 issues of the acclaimed, full color Domestic Rabbits Magazine with articles and images to help you better understand and care for your rabbits. Your $20 adult membership, or a $12 youth membership is far less than what you would pay to purchase similar publications at a retail store. The gift of ARBA membership allows families to make informed decisions and insures an enriching experience for all. You can join through our secure online store or call us. Join today! https://www.arba.net/about.htm The Grimm's Fairy-tale about the Hare and the Hedgehog. The plant of the week is: Spinach The word of the Week is: Best

The American Economy and the End of Laissez-Faire: 1870 to World War II 4. The Rise and Fall of Monopolies Lecture by Murray N. Rothbard Petroleum entered the industrial scene in 1859 with John D. Rockefeller's hard work. As the first manufacturing corporation, Standard Oil created a monopoly in kerosene refining by buying others out. A huge drop in the price of fuel followed, benefiting consumers, due to production efficiencies. Rothbard, then, discusses pietists, prohibitionists and the big political shift of 1896. Pietists, prohibitionists, anti-immigrationists, and women suffragettes had made a big Republican drive before 1890. But then a big, sudden shift in politics occurred, with Democrats capturing the big Midwest states, due to demographics of Germans, higher birth rates, anti-prohibitionists, and hard money standards. After this, the Republican party got more moderate and the  Democratic party got captured by extreme pietists in 1896. The South became a fully Democratic region. The Panic of 1893 resulted in the loss of Democratic seats due to the depression. By 1896 Bryanites were taking over the party. German Lutherans, and Catholics became majority-party Republicans, leaving the Irish to become minority-party Democratic civil servants. This situation lasts until 1932. The parties become non-ideological. Statists prevailed. Lecture 4 of 13 presented in Fall of 1986 at the New York Polytechnic University. This lecture on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fUmK_Kye56w Sourced from: https://mises.org/library/american-economy-and-end-laissez-faire-1870-world-war-ii We are not endorsed or affiliated with the above. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/legalcode Presented by: Read Rothbard is comprised of a small group of voluntaryists who are fans of Murray N. Rothbard. We curate content on the www.ReadRothbard.com site including books, lectures, articles, speeches, and we make a weekly podcast based on his free-market approach to economics. Our focus is on education and how advancement in technology improves the living standards of the average person. The Read Rothbard Podcast is all about Maximum Freedom. We look at movies and current events from a Rothbardian Anarchist perspective. If it's voluntary, we're cool with it. If it's not, then it violated the Non-Aggression Principle and Property Rights - the core tenants of Libertarian Theory - and hence - human freedom. Website: http://www.ReadRothbard.com iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-read-rothbard-podcast/id1166745868 Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/m/Ii45fhytlsiwkw6cbgzbxi6ahmi?t=The_Read_Rothbard_Podcast Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/readrothbardclub Twitter: https://twitter.com/read_rothbard Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/gp/145447582@N05/xB4583 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ReadRothbard Murray Rothbard, Murray N Rothbard, Read Rothbard, Anarchy, Anarchism, Free-Market, Anarcho-Capitalism, News and Events, Podcast, Laissez-Faire, Voluntaryist, Voluntaryism, Non-Aggression Principle, NAP, Libertarian, Libertarianism, Economics, Austrian Economics,

Edward speaks to the archbishop of Vienna, cardinal Christoph Schonborn about the migrant crisis in Europe. In the second part of the series exploring the work of individuals who have devoted themselves to working for others of different faiths in their communities, there is a profile of Bradford Pentecostal pastor Benjamin Ayesu. Pope Francis announced this week that all priests can grant forgiveness for the 'sin of abortion' during the Holy Year of Mercy. Professor Anthea Butler has been looking at the reaction in the US to Pope Francis's statement. Rt Rev James Newcombe, Bishop of Carlisle, talks about the Church of England's opposition to the proposed change to the law on assisted dying. This is not, he says, an attempt to 'push' a religious viewpoint. He is worried that a change would have serious detrimental effects on individuals and society. As the Queen becomes the longest reigning monarch in British history, the dean of Westminster, rev Dr John Hall, and Church historian, Diarmaid MacCulloch, reflect on how she has conducted herself in her role as supreme governor of the Church of England. Rev. Dr Keith Clements explains how the two years spent in England by German Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer, influenced his ministry before his execution in 1945. This week Cardinal Vincent Nichols took the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, to meet the pope for the first time. Reporter Charles Carroll was with them. Photo credit Mazur/www.catholicnews.org.uk Producers Carmel Lonergan Peter Everett Editor Amanda Hancox.

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer's account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer's account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly J. Whitmer‘s new book offers a history of science set in the Halle Orphanage, a building that was founded in the middle of the 1690s in the Prussian city of Halle by a group of German Lutherans known as Pietists. The Halle Orphanage as Scientific Community: Observation, Eclecticism, and Pietism in the Early Enlightenment (University of Chicago Press, 2015) understands this orphanage as a scientific community, thereby countering a tendency to approach the history of science in a way that treats science and religion and distinct and oppositional endeavors, and problematizing previous ways of understanding the space as an enclave of Pietists who were “enthusiastically opposed to rational approaches to knowing the natural world, and to science and the Enlightenment more generally.” As the fascinating story unfolds, Whitmer’s account meaningfully contributes to histories of observation, material culture, models and modeling, and education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 9, 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazi regime in Germany just two weeks before Allied forces liberated the camp where he was hanged—70 years ago this week. Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian. Leading up to his death at the age of 44, Bonhoeffer spent two years held captive […] The post #24—Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison, with Martin E. Marty [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Summary of today's show: The story of the Mexican martyrs of the Cristero Wars, fighting against religious persecution in the 1920s, was virtually unknown, even in Mexico, until recently. Now the blockbuster film “For Greater Glory” has shed new light on these heroes of the faith. In anticipation of the release of the DVD and Blu-Ray, Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor welcome producer Pablo Jose Barroso to talk about how he saw the film as a work of his own faith. They also talk to Ruben Quezada, author of the official companion book, about his lifetime effort to make know this troubling time in Mexico's history and what it could mean for the US today. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor Today's guest(s): Pablo Jose Barroso and Ruben Quezada Links from today's show: Today's topics: The movie “For Greater Glory” 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris O'Connor to the show and said today's show will focus on For Greater Glory, a movie about the Mexican civil war and the fight for religious freedom. Fr. Chris said the movie also addresses the idea of what it means to be a priest. Scot welcomed Pablo Barroso, the producer of the movie, to the show. He noted that Pablo has not always been a film producer. but has been a Mexican Catholic businessman. Pablo said he has felt called to the New Evangelization and is concerned about creating Catholic movies for the sake of his four children and other children. They want to bring Hollywood-level production values to movies with good content. Scot said before the movie he knew nothing about the Cristero War in the 1920s and very few Mexicans knew about it either. Pablo said this sad period of history in his country has been written out of the history books. He said the concerns over religious freedom, especially in the United States today, see the same kind of conflict in Mexico in the 1920s. Pablo said it was a struggle to produce the movie, but it was worth it. The Holy Spirit wanted this movie to be delivered in this moment. It took three years to produce and he worried about the timing. The timing allowed many of the fabulous people involved to participate including composer James Horner, who said he was blown away by the movie himself. Fr. Chris asked Pablo when he first heard about this battle for religious freedom and what does he hope it does for younger viewers. Pablo said he is 41 years old and his father passed away when he was 9, so he never heard from his own father about the Cristeros, but society never really talked about it. But 5 years ago suddenly he heard from the same story from a number of different people and realized that he had to make this movie. He hopes young people will be inspired and entertained by both the values and the action included in the film. He hopes they come to understand everything the Lord has done for us and why we follow Him, if not in taking up arms, but through peaceful means where possible. We raise up our voice and be close to Our Lord and be clear about what we believe and practice. Scot said there's no doubt this is an epic film, especially in the battle scenes and cinematography around Mexico. He said he read that it's the biggest budget film shot in Mexico. Pablo confirmed that it was a very expensive movie, but he wouldn't focus on the money. Instead he focuses on the cast and crew he put their hearts into high production values so that the people in the theaters will be drawn into the story. He noted that the director worked on the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings and so knew how to make these big scenes and to address a young audience. Pablo said it was a dream come true to have so many big stars and names in Hollywood trust in him as an inexperienced producer and to help him create this true story. Scot said the Blu-Ray and DVD come out one week from today on September 11. Scot said Pope Benedict surprised Mexicans with a plan to visit Mexico and honored those being profiled in the film at the same time that the movie was coming out. Pablo said the Holy Father came to the location where the statue of Christ the King is being built. Pablo said there was no way to anticipate that the Holy Father would make this trip at this time. Fr. Chris asked Pablo about the novel by Graham Greene that includes the events of the Cristero War and then Scot asked about the number of people who died in the war and how many have been canonized and beatified. Pablo said it killed 250,000 people, more than the Mexican Revolution. There are more than 25 canonized saints and 23 beati, some of them priests and some of them laypeople. Some are martyrs from the Knights of Columbus, which was very supportive at the time, trying to end the war through pressure in the American embassy. America had economic interests in Mexican oil at the time and so there was great interest throughout North America. Pablo talked about one of the priests who is canonized today who was among the martyrs. He is played in the movie by Peter O'Toole. He refuses to leave and stays to comfort the people. Another martyr is a 13-year-old boy who refused to renounce his faith. Andy Garcia portrays an agnostic general who was hired to lead the army and ended up finding his faith. Another was the man some call the Mexican Ghandi, who tried in every way to avoid violence and war. Fr. Chris noted that there were women-only St. Joan of Arc brigades. Pablo said if not for the women, there would have been no fight in the war. They were the support behind the army. They took care of the soldiers, providing food and medical care. Scot asked Pablo why they made the movie in English and subtitled it in Spanish for Mexico. Pablo said English is the international language of film and appeals to the widest audience throughout the world. He noted Schindler's List wasn't filmed in German and Troy not in Greek. 2nd segment: Scot said the companion book “For Greatery Glory: The Story of the Cristiada” is written by our next guest Ruben Quezada. Scot and Fr. Chris talked about the foreword to the book by Archbishbop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles. Ruben is the director of operations of the Catholic Resource Center. Scot asked Ruben how the idea for the companion book for the movie came about. He said he'd been speaking nationally and internationally on the subject of the Cristiada and he was contacted by Ignatius Press, the publisher of the book. He said he'd also helped some of the actors as they prepared to play their characters in the film. Fr. Chris asked about a Jesuit priest he talks about in the book. Ruben talked about how the priest inspired him as a child, and encouraged him to learn about the persecution of Catholics in Mexico and the story of Blessed Miguel Pro. He told about going to the library and trying to find anything about the Cristero War and learned how well these events were suppressed by the Mexican government for over seven decades. Scot noted that the ruling party in Mexico from the 1920s into the 1990s was the same party that engaged in the same persecution and so was successful in suppressing it. Ruben said he hears two responses: it happened in Mexico and can't happen here or it was all so long ago. He noted that the same roots of the persecution have started today. He said Archbishop Gomez has said when it looks like outright persecution it may too late. We have to stand up and profess our faith before it gets to that point. Ruben said the Cristiada was about controlling the people. When President Calles came into power in 1924, he was already an atheist and he didn't want the Church to have any influence or to compete with the socialist ideals he was putting into place. They started by kicking out all foreign priests from the country. In order to be a priest, they had to register with the local government and even then they were required to violate their faith by charging for sacraments for example. Some of the foreign priests stayed behind to risk everything and others went underground. There are images of the execution and torture of priests for saying Masses, hearing confessions and anointing the sick. Scot said the book contains questions and answers on all the key facts from the war, photos from the movie and of actual events, along with discussion points for parishes. Scot said his favorite parts were the letters sent from the pope to the Mexican people at the time as well as the remarks by Carl Anderson, Supreme Knights of the Knights of Columbus, on the Cristero War. He said 90% of the priests in Mexico were either killed or forced to leave the country. Scot said people will want to draw parallels between the persecution in Mexico and what the US Bishops have been writing about what we're experiencing in the US. Ruben said we have to raise our eyebrows at the parallels. He gave the quote from the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller: “When they came for the Jews I did not speak, because I wasn't a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak for me.” This is not a Catholic issue, but is important for all people in the US. Ruben said people wondering whether to read the book or the film first. He said it works either way, but he recommends seeing the film first because the book gives the depth that the movie can't give. He said more information is also available on his website vivacristorey.com. Ruben said what affects him most is knowing that these men gave their lives for him and for all of us, the next generations. The question is whether we will respond in kind.

Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976) was a German Lutheran theologian whose work highlighted the difficulties of treating early Christian texts as simple historical narratives, while at the same time highlighting their importance as documents of faith. Henri Gagey, from the Institut Catholique in Paris, is an expert on Bultmann's theology and presents an introduction to it here.

Petroleum entered the industrial scene in 1859 with John D. Rockefeller's hard work. As the first manufacturing corporation, Standard Oil created a monopoly in kerosene refining by buying others out. A huge drop in the price of fuel followed, benefiting consumers, due to production efficiencies. Rothbard, then, discusses pietists, prohibitionists and the big political shift of 1896.Pietists, prohibitionists, anti-immigrationists, and women suffragettes had made a big Republican drive before 1890. But then a big, sudden shift in politics occurred, with Democrats capturing the big Midwest states, due to demographics of Germans, higher birth rates, anti-prohibitionists, and hard money standards. After this, the Republican party got more moderate and the Democratic party got captured by extreme pietists in 1896. The South became a fully Democratic region. The Panic of 1893 resulted in the loss of Democratic seats due to the depression. By 1896 Bryanites were taking over the party. German Lutherans, and Catholics became majority-party Republicans, leaving the Irish to become minority-party Democratic civil servants. This situation lasts until 1932. The parties become non-ideological. Statists prevailed.Lecture 4 of 13 presented in Fall of 1986 at the New York Polytechnic University.

It's hard to be a Christian. It's even harder to be a good Christian. But being a good Christian on the frontier of Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century seems to have been next to impossible. That's one possible gloss of Kevin Kenny‘s eye-opening new book Peaceable Kingdom Lost. The Paxton Boys and the Destruction of William Penn's Holy Experiment (Oxford, 2009). William Penn was a Quaker, which means he and his followers were trying to be very good Christians indeed. They hoped to take their good intentions to the New World, where they would create (as Penn said) a “peaceable kingdom.” Alas, it was a poor choice of venue to begin a Utopian experiment in godly-living. Pennsylvania was wild and woolly, a mixture of idealistic English Quakers, German Lutherans and Mennonites, Ulster Presbyterians, and, of course, aggrieved Native Americans of many different sorts. Also, just to stir the pot further, the British and French kings were, shall we say, in a rather “heated discussions” about which parts of the New World each would control. It's not surprising that the lion did not lie down with the lamb in Pennsylvania, or that William Penn's “holy experiment” broke apart on the rocky shoals of North America. Kevin does a wonderful job of telling the sad, though distressingly familiar, tale of good intentions gone horribly wrong. Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven't already.

It’s hard to be a Christian. It’s even harder to be a good Christian. But being a good Christian on the frontier of Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century seems to have been next to impossible. That’s one possible gloss of Kevin Kenny‘s eye-opening new book Peaceable Kingdom Lost. The Paxton Boys and the Destruction of William Penn’s Holy Experiment (Oxford, 2009). William Penn was a Quaker, which means he and his followers were trying to be very good Christians indeed. They hoped to take their good intentions to the New World, where they would create (as Penn said) a “peaceable kingdom.” Alas, it was a poor choice of venue to begin a Utopian experiment in godly-living. Pennsylvania was wild and woolly, a mixture of idealistic English Quakers, German Lutherans and Mennonites, Ulster Presbyterians, and, of course, aggrieved Native Americans of many different sorts. Also, just to stir the pot further, the British and French kings were, shall we say, in a rather “heated discussions” about which parts of the New World each would control. It’s not surprising that the lion did not lie down with the lamb in Pennsylvania, or that William Penn’s “holy experiment” broke apart on the rocky shoals of North America. Kevin does a wonderful job of telling the sad, though distressingly familiar, tale of good intentions gone horribly wrong. Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s hard to be a Christian. It’s even harder to be a good Christian. But being a good Christian on the frontier of Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century seems to have been next to impossible. That’s one possible gloss of Kevin Kenny‘s eye-opening new book Peaceable Kingdom Lost. The Paxton Boys and the Destruction of William Penn’s Holy Experiment (Oxford, 2009). William Penn was a Quaker, which means he and his followers were trying to be very good Christians indeed. They hoped to take their good intentions to the New World, where they would create (as Penn said) a “peaceable kingdom.” Alas, it was a poor choice of venue to begin a Utopian experiment in godly-living. Pennsylvania was wild and woolly, a mixture of idealistic English Quakers, German Lutherans and Mennonites, Ulster Presbyterians, and, of course, aggrieved Native Americans of many different sorts. Also, just to stir the pot further, the British and French kings were, shall we say, in a rather “heated discussions” about which parts of the New World each would control. It’s not surprising that the lion did not lie down with the lamb in Pennsylvania, or that William Penn’s “holy experiment” broke apart on the rocky shoals of North America. Kevin does a wonderful job of telling the sad, though distressingly familiar, tale of good intentions gone horribly wrong. Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s hard to be a Christian. It’s even harder to be a good Christian. But being a good Christian on the frontier of Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century seems to have been next to impossible. That’s one possible gloss of Kevin Kenny‘s eye-opening new book Peaceable Kingdom Lost. The Paxton Boys and the Destruction of William Penn’s Holy Experiment (Oxford, 2009). William Penn was a Quaker, which means he and his followers were trying to be very good Christians indeed. They hoped to take their good intentions to the New World, where they would create (as Penn said) a “peaceable kingdom.” Alas, it was a poor choice of venue to begin a Utopian experiment in godly-living. Pennsylvania was wild and woolly, a mixture of idealistic English Quakers, German Lutherans and Mennonites, Ulster Presbyterians, and, of course, aggrieved Native Americans of many different sorts. Also, just to stir the pot further, the British and French kings were, shall we say, in a rather “heated discussions” about which parts of the New World each would control. It’s not surprising that the lion did not lie down with the lamb in Pennsylvania, or that William Penn’s “holy experiment” broke apart on the rocky shoals of North America. Kevin does a wonderful job of telling the sad, though distressingly familiar, tale of good intentions gone horribly wrong. Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s hard to be a Christian. It’s even harder to be a good Christian. But being a good Christian on the frontier of Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century seems to have been next to impossible. That’s one possible gloss of Kevin Kenny‘s eye-opening new book Peaceable Kingdom Lost. The Paxton Boys and the Destruction of William Penn’s Holy Experiment (Oxford, 2009). William Penn was a Quaker, which means he and his followers were trying to be very good Christians indeed. They hoped to take their good intentions to the New World, where they would create (as Penn said) a “peaceable kingdom.” Alas, it was a poor choice of venue to begin a Utopian experiment in godly-living. Pennsylvania was wild and woolly, a mixture of idealistic English Quakers, German Lutherans and Mennonites, Ulster Presbyterians, and, of course, aggrieved Native Americans of many different sorts. Also, just to stir the pot further, the British and French kings were, shall we say, in a rather “heated discussions” about which parts of the New World each would control. It’s not surprising that the lion did not lie down with the lamb in Pennsylvania, or that William Penn’s “holy experiment” broke apart on the rocky shoals of North America. Kevin does a wonderful job of telling the sad, though distressingly familiar, tale of good intentions gone horribly wrong. Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of CS is titled is titled “English Candles.”We've spent the last several episodes looking at the Reformation & Counter-Reformation in Europe. In this episode we'll take a look at how the Reformation unfolded, specifically in England.The story of the Church in England is an interesting one. The famous, or infamous, Henry the VIII was king of England when Luther set fire to the kindling of the Reformation. Posturing as a bulwark of Catholic orthodoxy, Henry wrote a refutation of Luther's position in 1521 titled “Defense of the Seven Sacraments” and was rewarded by Pope Leo X with the august title, Defender of the Faith. Ironic then that only about a decade later, Henry would hijack the church, officially ousting the Pope as head of the Church IN England and making himself head of the Church OF England.What makes the story of these years in England so interesting is the marital & political shenanigans Henry VIII played. The intrigues played out for the thrones of Spain, France & England all make for the best drama and most people don't realize that so many of the famous names of history all lived right at this time and knew each other, at least by reputation. If the story was a movie dreamed up in Hollywood, most would consider it too far-fetched.Without getting into the minutiae of the details of Henry's multiple marriages, it was his lust for power & desire to produce a son & heir that motivated him marry, divorce, re-marry and do it all over again. Henry persuaded the Pope to allow him to marry his sister-in-law, that is, his dead brother's wife, Catherine of Aragon, herself the daughter of Queen Isabella & King Ferdinand of Spain, sponsors of Christopher Columbus. Catherine gave Henry a daughter named Mary but no sons. So Henry put her aside and married his mistress, the vivacious & opinionated Anne Boleyn.In order to set Catherine aside so he could wed Anne, Henry had to persuade the Pope, who had taken some persuading to allow him to marry Catherine in the first place, to annul that marriage, saying he ought never have been allowed to marry her in the first place. The archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer was employed by Henry to put pressure on Rome to grant the annulment. But Pope Clement VII wouldn't budge. So in 1531, Henry announced to the clergy they were from then on to look to him as the head of the Church in England. It's at that point we may say that the Church IN England, became the Church OF England.For the next few years, there was effectively little difference between Roman Catholicism and what later came to be called Anglicanism. But under Thomas Cranmer's guidance, the Church of England began a halting process of departure from its Roman past.It seems this departure can be assigned in part to Anne Boleyn. A woman of astute intellect & firm convictions, she found much merit in the Reformed position and had a hand in seeing Thomas Cranmer appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury.Cranmer is an interesting figure. He seems in his early years to vacillate in his opinions and comes off as being anything but the stalwart bulldog of protestant ideals, as a Luther or Calvin. Yet, he went to the stake at the end of his life rather than recant his most dearly held beliefs. And what he did in the Church of England was truly remarkable.Once the break with Rome came, Cranmer quietly set about to install the Reformation ideas of Calvin in England. He didn't really do much while Henry VIII sat the throne but as soon as his reform-minded son Edward became king, he went to work in earnest.Cranmer was born in Nottinghamshire and attended Cambridge, where he was ordained a priest. He threw himself into his studies, becoming an outstanding theologian, a man of immense, though not original, learning. In 1520, he joined other scholars who met regularly to discuss Luther's theological revolt in Europe.Cranmer's theological leanings remained merely academic until he was drawn into the politics of the day. In August 1529, King Henry VIII happened to be in a neighborhood Cranmer was visiting, and he ended up conversing with the king. Henry was trying to figure out how to divorce Catherine so he could wed Anne Boleyn. Impressed with Cranmer's reasoning, Henry commanded Cranmer to write a treatise backing the king's right to divorce and then made Cranmer one of his European ambassadors.It was in this capacity that Cranmer made a trip to Germany, where he met the Lutheran reformer Andreas Osiander, and his niece, Margaret. Both Osiander's theology and niece so appealed to Cranmer, despite his vow to celibacy, he married Margaret in 1532. Because of the complex political situation in England, he kept this a secret.In August 1532, the aged archbishop of Canterbury died, and by March of the next year, Cranmer was consecrated as the new archbishop. Cranmer immediately declared the king's marriage to Catherine void & the king's previously secret union w/Anne Boleyn valid.Cranmer advocated the policy of royal absolutism, or what is popularly known as The Divine Right of Kings. Cranmer said his primary duty was to obey the king, God's chosen, to lead his nation and Church. Time and again in Henry's rocky reign, Cranmer was ordered to support religious policies of which he personally disapproved, and he always obeyed the king. And for this, Cranmer has been labeled a vacillator, a waffler – a leader of uncertain loyalty and fidelity to the Lord. Let's hold off judging that judgment till we see his end.In 1536, he became convinced, he said, by questionable evidence, that Anne had committed adultery, and he invalidated the marriage. In 1540, he ruled Henry's proposed marriage to Anne of Cleves was lawful—and when Henry sought a divorce from her just 6 months later, Cranmer approved it on the grounds the original marriage was unlawful!We'd be wise to be careful of assigning the archbishop the title of lackey. Yes, his flip-flopping on Henry's marital life is distressing, but given what we know about the King, what would have happened if he'd opposed his wishes? He'd have quickly been shorted by about 9 inches and Henry would have appointed a replacement bishop who gave him what he wanted. Cranmer had important work to do in reforming the Church of England and understood he was uniquely positioned to do it. Yeah, Henry VIII was a piece of work. But Cranmer was installing reforms in the Church that would make sure future kings couldn't get away with what Henry was getting away with. Though he bent to the king's will regarding his marital state, time and again, Cranmer alone of all Henry's advisers pleaded for the lives of people who fell out of royal favor, like Sir Thomas More, Anne Boleyn, and Thomas Cromwell. He even publicly argued against Henry's Six Articles, which were aimed at moving England back into the Roman Church. Then, in an apparent sign of weakness, when the Six Articles were approved by Parliament, he went along with the king's policies. But again. What else could he do?Some would say he ought to have stood strong, like Luther at the Diet of Worms. But if he had, it's debatable if the Church of England would have become the Anglican Church. And lest we assume that Henry was just an tyrannical spoiled brat who happened to be king, he intervened on Cranmer behalf when court politics threatened the archbishop's position and life. It was Cranmer Henry asked for on his deathbed.With Henry's death & his sons Edward VI ascension to the throne in 1547, Cranmer's time arrived. The young king's guardian, Edward Seymour, began to make the Church of England determinedly Protestant. Cranmer took the chief role in directing doctrinal matters. He published his Homilies In 1547, which required all clergy to preach sermons emphasizing Reformed doctrine. He composed the first Book of Common Prayer which was only moderately Protestant, in 1549, then followed it up in 1552 by a 2nd edition that was more clearly Protestant. Cranmer also produced the Forty-Two Articles a year later. This was a set of doctrinal statements that moved the Church of England even further in a Reformed, and I mean Calvinist direction.These documents became critical to the formation of Anglicanism, and the Book of Common Prayer (BCP), though revised over the years, still retains Cranmer's distinctive stamp and is used by millions of Anglicans worldwide.When Edward VI died in 1553, Cranmer supported his cousin, the Lady Jane Grey as the new sovereign. She was even more reform minded than Edward had been. While monarch, Edward had changed the rules of succession to ensure she'd receive the crown, and his older half-sister Mary Tudor, as the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, a staunch Roman Catholic, from gaining the throne. But Lady Jane Grey was deposed in only 9 days, and Mary triumphantly entered London.Parliament immediately repealed Henry VIII and Edward VI acts and reintroduced the pro-Catholic heresy laws. Mary's government began a relentless campaign against Protestants. Cranmer was charged with treason and imprisoned in November 1553. After spending nearly 2 years in prison, Cranmer was subjected to a long, tedious trial. The foregone verdict was reached in February 1556, and in a ceremony carefully designed to humiliate him, Cranmer was degraded from his church offices and handed over to be burned at the stake. He was just one of thousands of Protestants to know Queen Mary's fury, earning her the title Bloody Mary.Cranmer's long imprisonment and harsh treatment combined to weaken his resolve. Hoping to avoid the stake, he became convinced he should submit to a Catholic ruler and repudiate his reforms. He signed a document that said, “I confess and believe in one, holy, catholic visible church; I recognize as its supreme head upon earth the bishop of Rome, pope and vicar of Christ, to whom all the faithful are bound subject.”Even with this confession in hand, the Royal Court & Parliament believed Cranmer had to be punished for the havoc he'd wreaked on the Church. The plan was still to burn him at the stake—but he'd be allowed to make one more profession of his Catholic faith and so redeem his soul though his body would perish in the flames.On the night before his execution, Thomas Cranmer was seated in an Oxford cell before a plain wooden desk, weary from months of trial, interrogation, and imprisonment, trying to make sense of his life. Before him lay the speech he was to give the next morning, a speech that repudiated his writings that had denied Catholic teaching. Also before him was another speech, in which he declared the pope “Christ's enemy and antichrist.”Which would he give on the morrow?The next morning he was led into a church, and when it was his turn to speak, he drew out a piece of paper and began to read. He thanked the people for their prayers, then said, “I come to the great thing that troubles my conscience more than any other thing that I ever said or did in my life.” Referring to the recantations he had signed, he blurted out, “All such bills which I have written or signed with my own hand are untrue.”Loud murmurs sped through the congregation, but Cranmer continued, “And as for the pope, I refuse him as Christ's enemy and antichrist, with all his false doctrine. And as for the sacrament—” But no more words were heard by the crowd because Cranmer was dragged from the stage out to the stake. The fire was kindled and quickly the flame leapt up. Cranmer stretched out his right hand, the one who'd written the previous recantation, into the flame and held it there as he said, “This hand has offended.” He died with the words of many of the martyrs, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”Within just 2 years, Elizabeth I ascended the English throne and moved the church back in a Protestant direction, revising Cranmer's 42 Articles to 39, and adopting his Book of Common Prayer as the guide to worship. Today Anglicanism & its New World counterpart in Episcopalianism, is the expression of faith for 50 million worldwide.[1]As we end this episode, I want to mention 2 more who lost their lives in Bloody Mary's purge; Nicolas Ridley & Hugh Latimer.Ridley was Thomas Cranmer's chaplain when Cranmer was Archbishop of Canterbury. He eventually became the bishop of London. He helped Cranmer write the Book of Common Prayer. Ridley was instrumental in altering the interior of the churches of England. He replaced the stone altars with simple wooden tables for the serving of Communion. He shifted the work of priests from sacramental & sacerdotal work inside the church to pastoral work outside it.Hugh Latimer started out as a passionate preacher of Catholicism. When he received a degree in theology in 1524, he delivered a lecture assailing the German Lutheran heir to Luther's legacy, Philip Melanchthon, for his high view of Scripture.Among Latimer's listeners was Thomas Bilney, leader of the Protestants at Cambridge. After the lecture, Bilney asked Latimer to hear his confession. Believing his lecture had converted the evangelical, Latimer readily agreed. The “confession,” however, was a stealthily worded sermon on the comfort and confidence the Scriptures can bring. Latimer was moved to tears, and to Protestantism.Latimer's sermons then targeted Catholicism and social injustice. He preached boldly, daring in 1530 to give a sermon before King Henry VIII that denounced violence as a means of protecting God's Word. For this he won the king's respect.He became one of Henry's chief advisers after the king's break with Rome. Appointed bishop of Worcester, he supported Henry's dissolution of the monasteries. However, when he opposed the Henry's retreat from Protestantism in the Six Articles, he was put under house arrest for 6 years.Freed during the reign of Edward VI, he flourished as one of the Church of England's leading preachers. But with the ascension of Mary, he was again imprisoned, tried, and along with Ridley & Cranmer, condemned to death.According to Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Ridley arrived at the field of execution first. When Latimer arrived, the 2 embraced and Ridley said, “Be of good heart, brother, for God will either assuage the fury of the flame, or else strengthen us to abide it.” They both knelt and prayed before listening to an exhortation from a preacher, as was the custom before an execution for heresy.A blacksmith wrapped an iron chain around the waists of Ridley and Latimer. When the wood was lit, Latimer said, “Be of good comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out.”As the fire rose Latimer cried out, “O Father of heaven, receive my soul!” and he died almost immediately. Ridley however, hung on, with most of his lower body having burned before he passed from this earth into Heaven's waiti ng arms.[2][1] Galli, M., & Olsen, T. (2000). 131 Christians everyone should know (372–374). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.[2] ibid