Great news to our readers (and watchers!).  Some of our authors here at BJS are working diligently on what we are calling “The Brothers of John the Steadfast Catechism Series”, which are 2-5 minute video segment summaries of the Small Catechism for you to use in any way you see fit.  The first installment is available now on the Steadfast Lutherans YouTube channel.  In it Pastor Chris Hull describes in brief the need historically for the Small and Large Catechisms and also their continued relevance today for all Christians.  Take a peek, share it with your friends, you will not   More…

There is no shortage of folks out there who are angry at the Church and at “Christianity” in general.  Where did these people come from?  What has caused such a rage and hatred for things.  There are some variations out there in cause.  Some, acting out of their hatred for God will hate anything to do with God – this is a theological truth.  There is also another crew of people out there, who still bear the sinful unbelieving hate for Christ, but they have additional scars as well.  These are the ones catechized by the “church” to eventually leave   More…

Today the news became official, the Boy Scouts have fallen in line with the step of a world gone mad.  The group has adopted a policy which allows openly gay boys to join (but in compromise they did not allow openly gay men to become scout leaders [you could probably hold your breath for how long that ruling will last]).  This has caused the American Heritage Girls to dissolve their working relationship with the Boy Scouts immediately following the decision. There are some things which may be learned here.  First, as James 4:4 says, friendship with the world is enmity   More…

Recently I had the chance to observe the pastoral care provided by a non-denominational church in my area.  The situation was brutal and filled with grief, so certainly pastoral care was warranted.  In came the preacher’s wife (one of their “ministers”) because the main pastor was in a meeting.  She met with the folks who were affected and talked to them for about two minutes.  They did not pray.  She did not read from a Bible.  She ended the conversation by telling them to “text her with how things are going”. This is a far cry from Christian care for   More…

A while back I wrote about a new theological journal written for congregations to use called Around the Word.  Well, it is time to announce the second issue out today with the theme of “Conscience”. From the Around The Word website:   We are extremely excited to announce the second edition of Around the Word. The Summer 2013 edition is finally here! In this summer edition we’ve chosen to focus on the conscience.  Much like the inaugural edition, this installment packs over 100+ pages of sound theological content. Some highlights found in this issue are: Detail of the Last Judgement  Questions   More…

Last week I had the great joy of attending the 3rd Annual Free Conference of the ACELC.  The theme this year was on worship, and in the group’s earnest desire to restore unity and concord within Lutheranism they attempted to do something great – a grassroots effort to gather all sides to the table to discuss the disputed points of theology under the Scriptures and Lutheran Confessions.  This of course being a grassroots effort means that it is not troubled by bylaws, resolutions, candidacies, longstanding personality feuds, or politics for that matter. What I heard was a number of pastors   More…

I had the opportunity to be a guest once again at the third annual conference of the ACELC.  This is a group of LCMS congregations which are trying to take the LCMS doctrine and the relationship of doctrine to practice seriously.  If you do not know about them, please check out their website.   I had the chance to speak at their banquet, to serve as kind of an opening act for Pr. Rossow to speak as the featured speaker.  They also took the time to introduce this video and their efforts of making a filming project.  These are very   More…

Gun control seems to be a big topic politically in our nation.  Among the fallout from the horrid shooting in Newtown, politicians have set their cross-hairs on guns again.  This is certainly a topic by which people can very passionately disagree, but I have been trying to think of some theological things in regards to the ownership and use of firearms. You can see in the graphic to the right, others have already started to mine the depths of Scripture to find answers.  In this case Luke 22:36 is cited. He said to them, “But now let the one who   More…

Today is Holy Monday and Holy Week begins to move on.  But another great thing is celebrated today in the Church, the Annunciation of our Lord.  This is the celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and bear Jesus.  Although the incarnation of our Lord appears to human eyes on Christmas, the Lord taking on flesh can be traced to today (March 25th).  Luke’s Gospel records this: In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a   More…

One of the included resources in the latest Around The Word journal was this excellent chart of the Biblical accounts surrounding Holy Week.  This is with great thanks to the Pr. Bryan Wolfmueller, General Editor of Theological Awesomeness (his actual legal title for this great journal).  If you didn’t purchase the first issue (themed “suffering”), there is still time (after all, good theology is timeless).  Issues are available in digital and print editions.  Also, the second issue (themed “the conscience”) will be set to go on May 15th.  To download the Passion Chronology in PDF format, click here.  To download   More…

Pr. Dan Chambers has been suffering now for over a year, and many folks have helped him during that time.  This time the help needed are your prayers.  Pr. Chambers is going to be undergoing a high risk surgery this Tuesday. So in your personal prayers, your family altar times, at the altar this Lord’s Day please include Pr. Chambers in your prayers (lay-folks ask your pastors to include him in prayer chains or whatever else your congregation may have.)  You may also want to include his wife Karen and his children  in your prayers at this trying time. Here   More…

On my way to the 2013 BJS Conference I had some time to listen to stuff on my cheap mp3 player while I sat in the airport and flew on the planes.  So since I was working on catechizing my youth on the glorious gift of baptism I was listening to the Large Catechism.  This was possible through a free download at Librivox of the Book of Concord.  I had been informed of this because the pastor who did this great work was from my own Wyoming District, Pr. Jonathan Lange.  Pr. Lange has done the Church a great service   More…

So last night the History Channel docudrama “The Bible” premiered.  It was overall a hard episode (actually two episodes) since it covered the time of Creation (covered by Noah retelling Gen 1-3 on an Ark filled with terror and worry) all the way to the story of Rahab and the beginning of the conquest of the Promised Land.  It was very interesting what the writers chose to cover and what they chose to not cover. The chapters of the Scriptures which are covered in these first two hours are:  Genesis 1, 9, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 21, 22.  Exodus   More…

There is a new series of docudramas coming to the History Channel this Sunday night.  It is called “The Bible”.  This may turn out to be good, but I would offer a couple cautions. 1.  The History Channel (and any of those channels like Discovery) have hardly been friendly to a traditional, conservative, or orthodox understanding of the Scriptures.  Many of their programs seek to build doubts and promote higher-critical understandings of the Word of God. 2.  The Board of Advisors for the project is found here.  It includes the likes of Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, T.D. Jakes, a couple   More…

Want to know an organization which is centered on teaching Lutheran doctrine and practice to Africans?  Lutherans in Africa is it.  James May gave the last presentation at our Conference and talked about the need for Confessional Lutheranism in Africa and also the great hunger for confessional Lutheranism among the people and pastors of African congregations.  What tools are used for this great work?  That is the greatest part – Bibles, hymnals, catechisms, and the Book of Concord!   James and his coworkers strive to translate material and then spend weeks in the field teaching and distributing it.  Their teaching has   More…