In the worship wars, one of the alleged reasons for abandoning the historic liturgy is to make worship relevant. We want application of the Gospel in ways that connect with people. Dear friends, the historic liturgy is like a many-layered … Continue reading
A new book offers a new kind of critique of the novel and movie, The Shack. My articles here on Brothers of John the Steadfast have been transformed into a book that the Steadfast Lutherans are distributing to you for free on … Continue reading
Editor’s Note: To understand what is meant by “Trinitarian Theology” in this post, please see Part 2. Having traced the journey of Wm. Paul Young, author of The Shack, and his main character, Mackenzie Phillips, from the pain of their Great … Continue reading
Note: The following is a guest article by Rev. Ryan Loeslie, Pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Merna, Nebraska. Most Lutherans who went through junior high confirmation class at one time in their lives are familiar with Luther’s famous question from his Small … Continue reading
In Part 1 of this series of articles we saw that The Shack and its theology arise from two pressures experienced by its author, Wm. Paul Young, and main character, Mackenzie Phillips: pain and the inadequacy of “traditional Christianity” to … Continue reading
In Part 1 of this series of articles, we saw that The Shack and its theology arise from two pressures: Pain, loss, and suffering. The perceived inadequacy of Calvinistic and Wesleyan-Arminian evangelicalism to heal pain. These two pressures – pain … Continue reading
The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity[1] is a presentation of Trinitarian Theology and perichoresis[2] in the form of story, novel, and dialogue. This Trinitarian Theology is both like and not like our Lutheran confession of the Trinity.[3] The differences are … Continue reading
The novel, The Shack, is coming out as a movie. So it is time again for Christians to have discernment about this material. Many Christians have written previously about the false teachings in The Shack. Those who have defended … Continue reading
Gerhard Forde says, “Sanctification, if it is to be spoken of as something other than justification, is perhaps best defined as the art of getting used to the unconditional justification wrought by the grace of God for Jesus’ sake.”[1] There … Continue reading
This year marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses. Historians mark the beginning of the Reformation from Luther’s publication of them. Many organizations have planned commemorations of Luther and the Reformation. Maybe these commemorations will have an impact. … Continue reading
Holly Marie Scheer recently wrote an article titled, “Why ‘Mary Did You Know’ Is The Most Biblically Illiterate Christmas Tune.” The digest at the head of the article says, Anyone who has even a slight familiarity with the biblical account … Continue reading
We must trust Christ to raise us from death to life. We must trust him for this twice: regarding our resurrection, and regarding our regeneration. These two cases are alike. In both cases, we are dead, and because we are … Continue reading
My Dad liked Billy Graham. When Graham’s crusades were televised, Dad watched. Graham had a gift of oratory. He preached God’s Law. He preached sin and salvation. He preached the person and work of Christ. But his sermons were spoiled … Continue reading
A recurring issue in Christian conversations is: what is the role of man’s will in conversion. Some say this is no better than arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. This issue really matters, … Continue reading
On a recurring basis, online Lutheran discussions will confront you with terms like pelagianism, synergism, and monergism. You will see one participant claim that what another person said is wrong because it is pelagian. Maybe you ventured to speak up, … Continue reading
The Brothers of John the Steadfast have said before that, “We can use Arch Books coordinated with the Lectionary to engage young children in the Divine Service.” The Brothers published an “Arch Books to Lectionary Table (Historic 1-Year Lectionary)” to … Continue reading
Not long ago in a discussion in an online Lutheran group, one father did a manly thing. He admitted he was scared in his role as father. He said, “Nothing scares me quite like teaching my children.” Hallelujah! I told … Continue reading
My wife and I have been married for over 14 years. In terms of our lives in the church, we have both changed over those 14 years. Our upbringings in the church were vastly different and the years before we … Continue reading
Bosom Jesus from eternity was in the bosom of the Father. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (John 1:18) Skip the dead illustrations … Continue reading
This is a presidential election year. There have been so many candidates. People wanted to know, who are these people, really? Who are these promise makers? One of the parties started with four candidates. One candidate is a political veteran … Continue reading
Luther’s Small Catechism is a prayer book. It is “a spiritual companion on a man’s journey from cradle to grave; the Christian’s daily prayer and meditation.”[1] “First and foremost the catechism is meant to be prayed, as a daily exercise, … Continue reading
Two Overtures to the 2016 synodical convention of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod presented questions concerning a paper by Dr. Jeffrey Kloha about ongoing revisions of the Greek New Testament. Overture 4-23 was titled, “To Settle Professor Jeffrey Kloha … Continue reading
At the recent LCMS convention, a recurring topic was the decline of the church. President Harrison had written about it in his report. Some had criticized one part of what he said, the part about declined birth rates among church … Continue reading
Small Catechism memory cards and flash cards are great tools for learning by heart and meditating on the truths of Scripture “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15) … Continue reading
Recently I attended the funeral of a major person in my life. The Sacrament of the Altar was administered. It was administered by intinction. This was in a synod with whom I am not in altar fellowship, so I did … Continue reading