The start of a new church year is coming. As has become custom here at Steadfast we are working up a series for Advent which will include a devotional (look for that early to mid-November). This year’s series is titled “For Unto Us a Son is Given” borrowing the language … Continue reading →
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Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! 2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” 3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and … Continue reading →
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“Rejoice in the Lord Always” (Philippians 4) “Rejoice in the Lord Always”: So says Paul in our Epistle reading today. Really? “Rejoice”? “Always”? Are you kidding me? “Rejoice always”? That’s easy for you to say, Paul. You don’t know what I’m going through. If you did, you wouldn’t be telling … Continue reading →
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“Invited to the Feast” (Isaiah 25:6-9) There’s a big feast coming, and Bob is invited! In fact, his seat is already guaranteed. There’s a big feast coming, and you are invited too. That’s what I want to tell you about today, that we have been “Invited to the Feast.” What … Continue reading →
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October, 2017 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: This month, we Lutherans celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. That event is regarded as the beginning of the Reformation. During the … Continue reading →
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On All Hallows’ Eve 1517 a monk named Martin Luther posted a list of points for discussion and debate at the University of Wittenberg campus church. The campus church is named All Saints’ Church. The regular bulletin board for such … Continue reading → Share this:In the last few months I have heard two different stories of folks thinking about moving from a Church Growth parish to a confessional one. What was the reason they could not make the switch? In both cases they could not … Continue reading → Share this:First, Objective Justification and Subjective Justification are not two different justifications, but rather two parts of the act of Justification. My brother David has put it well: Objective Justification = God justifies the sinner [through faith]. Subjective Justification = … Continue reading → Share this:The Book of Concord is a wonderful devotional book as well as being the formal confession of faith for the Lutheran Church. To aid in using the Book of Concord for devotion I have provided a copy of the hymns … Continue reading → Share this:One of the many points falsely claimed in Christ Myth Theory about the supposed dependence of Christ upon the legends of Egypt is the claim that Horus was born of a virgin. The claim is utterly false. Egyptian mythology is … Continue reading → Share this:Another great article found from the ACELC — (found at their site here (pdf)) In our conversations with many of you we have sensed a need for a resource to explain our Biblical practice and the theology behind Closed Communion. … Continue reading → Share this:Thanks to BJS reader Rick Techlin for posting this pictoral review of the BJS conference on his blog, Light from Light: The Brothers Of John the Steadfast held their annual conference in Naperville, Illinois on February 20 & 21, … Continue reading → Share this:Found on Matthew E. Cochran’s blog, The 96th thesis: When a congregation begins toying with the idea of contemporary worship, one of the usual driving factors is an attempt to be more “inclusive.” “The Church needs to appeal to … Continue reading → Share this:About a year ago one of my professors gave me the lecture notes of my grandfather, Robert Preus, from when he taught a course on Justification at St. Catharines back in the 80’s. According to Dr. Jackson, Preus was an … Continue reading → Share this:by Pastor Walt Otten The Brothers of John the Steadfast have asked this 1959 Concordia, St. Louis graduate to prepare a bi-monthly post for this website entitled “This Was Your Grandfather’s Church.” The editor’s instructions to me were, “Just Look … Continue reading → Share this:I had the opportunity to hear an excellent presentation this afternoon from a neighboring pastor (Rev. Shawn Kumm of Zion, Laramie) on Lutheran worship. One of the best points that he made was related to how worship is meant to … Continue reading → Share this:Yours truly was the guest on the “Studio A” radio program on KFUO, AM 850, on Monday, October 25, to discuss “What Holds Lutheranism Together.” You can listen to the interview below. The 25-minute segment runs from about the 29:00 … Continue reading → Share this:Forty years ago, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (hereafter LCMS) was in an uproar. Its Saint Louis seminary president, John Tietjen, was suspended in the January 20, 1974 meeting of the seminary’s Board of Control. On January 21st the majority of … Continue reading → Share this:All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day: Origins and Samhain-ization Today it seems that everyone knows that Halloween is originally a Celtic pagan holy day named Samhain [pronounced: Sow-in] which the Christian Church supplanted for the sake of forcing pagans to … Continue reading → Share this:We are pleased to announce the videos are now available from the recent Brothers of John the Steadfast 2015 Conference held at Bethany Lutheran Church in Naperville, IL on Feb 20-21st. Thanks to Peter Slayton for helping getting these recordings … Continue reading → Share this:I’m a lay person who has been constantly being educated in what it truly means to be a confessional Lutheran. I love it! It’s been a slow learning, growing process over more than a decade now. I have always been … Continue reading → Share this:Another great post found over on Gottesdienst Online: The president-emeritus of the LCMS, the Rev. Gerald Kieschnick, has written a blogpost expressing his “perspective” positing that the LCMS has a culture that is unfriendly to the laity. However, the title he … Continue reading → Share this:Complaints are a part of life in a fallen world. Add to that a culture of personal opinions and tastes, and complaint can become of increased importance. Complaints can be necessary. They also hold the power to utterly destroy people … Continue reading → Share this:During my past 9 years of pastoral ministry the discussion with Evangelicals that has resulted in the most confusion, tension, and conflict is most definitely the dialog over infant baptism. Otherwise stated, in my humble opinion there is nothing more … Continue reading → Share this:So with the news of the LCMS inability to deal with one of its most flagrant dissenters since the 1970s, it is sure to be an issue that the people of God need to learn about. One of the best … Continue reading → Share this:Did Christianity Steal the Date of Pagan Winter Solstice Celebrations? The Roman celebration discussed in this article is the multi-day festival of Saturnalia. The Mis-Use of Roman Sources: Saturnalia In these articles we have seen the texts from the early … Continue reading → Share this:This is a reposting of a pair of articles published last year on the origins of Easter and some Easter traditions. The sources are given so that the reader can better be able to debunk the popular “historical” nonsense about … Continue reading → Share this:Warning: this post contains sexually explicit material Pornography is wicked. So is the sinful flesh, which is why porn sells. One source reported a “conservative estimate” of U.S. pornography revenues around $8 billion in 2012. Pornography is just as damnable a sin … Continue reading → Share this:My church has “forever” had communion every Sunday, but at alternate services. Early service for the 1st and 3rd Sundays, and late service for the 2nd and 4th Sundays. So people who wanted every-Sunday communion could do it by simply … Continue reading → Share this:There has been lots of discussion on Pastor Scheer’s recent post .. one commentator pointed out this article by Pastor Paul McCain, which I thought should be brought to the attention of our readers. This is always a difficult subject, … Continue reading → Share this: |