The Three Cs

If the Mass is a promise, as has been said, then access to it is to be gained , not with any works, or powers, or of one's own, but by faith alone. For where there is the Word of the promising God, there must necessarily be the faith of the accepting man. It is plain therefore, that the beginning of our salvation is a faith which clings to the Word of the promising God, who, without any effort on our part, in free and unmerited mercy takes the initiative and offers us the word of his promise. "He sent forth his word, and thus healed them," not: "He accepted our work, and thus healed us." First of all there is God's Word. After it follows faith; after faith, love; then love does every good work, for it does no wrong, indeed, it is the fulfilling of the law (Rom. 13:10). In no other way can man come to God and deal with him than through faith. That is to say, that the author of salvation is not man, by any works of his own, but God, through his promise; and t...

Lutheran Satire asks, why does Pope Francis keep saying things that make it sound like the Catholic Church doesn't teach what the Catholic Church teaches? Because, dude, like, mellow out, man.

But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. (Deut. 13:9) I always struggle when I read all of the law: They can seem like such harsh words. Yes, they can be quite beautiful, too. Some of them even seem easy to obey: Laws like Deuteronomy 6:5 -- You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. That doesn't sound so onerous, does it? We love to love, don't we? Loving God, who created everything? Praise be to God! What a wondrous creation we live in. It's easy to love the God who gave us majestic mountains and spacious skies and amber waves of grain. Right? Then we hit Deuteronomy 13:9. You shall kill him, the Lord declares. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death. And then the people must join in. Stone the fool. Stone him. Kill him, the one who leads you astray, who leads you away from loving the Lord, your God, with...

What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time? In case you've missed it, I write a lot about believing in God. (OK, that's an understatement; it is what I write about). Believe, is my reminder. Set your hope in Jesus. Have faith that the one you have not seen is real, that the stories you read about him are true. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength. Of course, I am not just reminding you; I am reminding myself, in a large part because of today's passage. You realize, demons believe in Jesus, don't you? Oh, wait? Demons are real, you ask? Of course they are real! Why would we need a savior if there are no demons? Yes, demons are very real; they really do possess people; they are going to hell, and they know it. And they want to take you and me with them. Demons are intimately aware of who Jesus is. In fact, they not only recognized the son of Joseph and Mary, they recognized him as the W...

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" I had struggled with today's passage for a long time. But it dawned on me, I had been misunderstanding these words at the end of Jesus' sermon on the mount. I kept reading this passage and hearing the 'Lord, Lord,' as though these were people who had faith in God. I mean, who would prophesy, who would cast out demons, who would do mighty works ... if they didn't believe? Right? But that isn't what Christ is noting here. Read the words, again. "Did  we  not ... do this." They aren't expressing their faith in God. They are praising themselves. Look at me...