The Three Cs

“Reason argues in this way: If you have been justified, you cannot be a sinner. But the argument is not valid. For reason does not know or understand the magnitude of divine mercy or how important it is and how effective faith is. For that reason men do not cease to bury the Word of God with human inventions. For they are so bound together by that mistletoe of reason that they do not know how to discern true from false. They do not value it very highly that God can do this, that though sin remains, he considers us to be righteous and pure, and that a man is so absolved, as if he had no sin, for Christs sake. We truly thank God, because his imputation is greater than our impurity. And sin, which in substance is not being removed, shall be imputed as having been removed and shall be absorbed by the goodness of God who conceals it on account of Christ who overshadows it, although it remains in nature and substance. The adversaries do not want to admit this. Therefore they laugh when we sa...

Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely you know! Sadly, I wasn't bold enough this morning to post this entire passage to my Facebook page: I wimped out with only the rhetorical questions from verse 4: "Who has ascended ... gathered the wind ... wrapped up the waters ... established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely, you know! I do know, and so do you. Don't you? Really, I wanted to post it all, especially that first part. That passage leaped off the page at me, like most of them do. This time it reminded me of who I am. I am wretched, and I shouldn't be ashamed to admit it....

My wife doesn't write often enough. But years ago, she wrote this, which I found while looking through one of my old websites. I hope you enjoy it. Voices I never really listened to what I had to say If I had taken my own advice my life might've gone another way. I took on all the problems of those who couldn't cope I gave them all the answers I returned to them their hope. Though never did I realize that the words were meant for me I thought my problems were too big for all the world to see. But then one night I had a dream His face is what I saw He said to me “This is the way here's how to have it all.” “Listen to yourself” He said “The answers are within Within your soul I'll talk to you Truth shall you hear and happiness shall you win.” The moral of this poem is as simple as it is true The only one who has the answers is God listening, experiencing, acting they are all up to you. So listen to the Voice inisde when it says “Child, I love you” It's God ...

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...