The Secret Wireless

  John W. Theilen  October 16, 2023  I Corinthians 6:20 (KJV) O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. To Mom, Jessica & Jason, Rebekah, Cindy, Glenn, to all the grandchildren, family and friends gathered here today; grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text that is given for your comfort today is Dad’s confirmation verse. I Corinthians 6:20, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” “Ye are bought with a price.” John Theilen belongs to Jesus Christ. He was purchased 2000 years ago, not with gold or silver, but with the precious blood of God. The death of Jesus is the payment made for the redemption, the purchase, of the whole human race. The most precious substance in all the world, t...

On August 19, 2015 the Center for Medical Progress released yet another video detailing the closed room practices of Planned Parenthood and their partner StemExpress in procuring fetal body parts.  These groups have been harvesting the organs of aborted babies, exchanging money, and using the flesh for scientific experimentation.  It is sickening.  The videos are not for the faint of heart, but if you desire to watch you can find them here . In the most recent video a former procurement technician for StemExpress, Holly, relates the story of how she came to know she could no longer work for this agency.  She tells of how another technician called her into a room where she was cleaning a newly aborted baby (so newly aborted that the heart would still beat when pricked by an instrument) to prepare it for organ harvesting. Holly was told that day she would be harvesting the baby's brain.  The other technician began the process by making an incision under the ...

Is sex becoming boring? My mind pondered this idea a few days ago on my way into Saint Louis.  Before you cross the Mississippi River into Missouri there is a certain strip club one must pass on the interstate.  Said strip club always has a billboard advertising the latest special feature.  As you might guess these billboards do not vary greatly.  The billboard is usually a photograph of a woman from the shoulders up looking rather seductive and inviting any travelers to stop in.  This time, however, was different.  As I passed the billboard there were no women.  Rather than advertising the club’s newest dancer, they were advertising “wrestling midgets”.  So the naked dancing women were replaced by short, clothed, male wrestlers.  I don’t get it.  Has sex really gotten that boring?  A more serious example stuck in my mind comes from a PBS documentary I caught just a few minutes of several months ago....

  Jesus teaches us to pray: "Our Father who art in heaven..."                                 Is God really your Father?   Because we talk and think about Him as if He is all the time.   In fact many non-Christians seem to assume that God is a fatherly figure, even if they do not really go to church or trust Him for salvation.                 I want to make the assertion tonight that God is not your father, at least not in the way you usually think about it.      First, think about the Biblical evidence.   You will search, nearly in vain, for references to God as Father in the Old Testament.   They are there, but they are rather few and far between.   Usually it is God who asserts that He has act...

The Biblical David is a favorite for many people.  And who can blame them?  He is courageous, handsome, intelligent, charismatic, and eventually, powerful and rich.  Most men want to be him and most women want to be married to him. So it is no wonder that upon reading the history of David people want to identify with him. And so they begin to make comparisons from their life to his. He becomes a model for their life so that they can justify certain behaviors or certain personality traits. "Well, David was passionate, so I can be passionate too."  That sort of thing. The problem with people, no matter how good their intentions, comparing themselves to King David is that, well, they are not David!  Certainly the Lutheran Confessions mention that Christians can use the saints of years gone by as examples, but that is according to their vocation, not their life in general.  So, unless you are a shepherd, king, or polygamist, you are out of luck. You s...

[from bigfotot.com] Men and Anyone Wishing to be One, Get a grip. One fairly consistent fruit of the Spirit is self-control.  You would hardly know it by looking at the church today.  Christians rarely exercise any more self-control than the rest of society.  We are an indulgent culture and little interested in denying ourselves anything that we mildly desire. Take fasting, for example.  Jesus seems to assume that His disciples will fast in His comments on the Sermon on the Mount.  He gives some right and wrong reasons to fast.  Today, however, most Christ-followers seem to have taken a fast from fasting. I am not advocating for mandatory fasts or any mandatory piety at all.  Rather I wish to encourage all Christians, and especially men, to practice self-control at all times. Saint Paul writes in I Corinthians 9:27,  "I discipline my body and keep it under control."  Near the end of the letter he admonishes them: "...act lik...

Fathers, It does not matter if you are married or divorced, if you live with your children or only see them periodically.  If you have children, then you are a father.  And if you are a father you have a calling from God. Ephesians 6:4 is a clear, if brief, exhortation for us all when it comes to being a dad: " Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord ." Perhaps some of our difficulty with fatherhood has come from a confusion over what it means to "discipline" your children.  We tend to use that term as a synonym for "punishment".  We believe that it is a father's duty to punish when wrongs are done.  Don't spare the rod. Yet this seems to fly right in the face of what Paul is saying to the Ephesian fathers.  "Don't provoke your children to anger."  A father who is all punishment and rules is certainly going to provoke anger in his offspring. Rather,...

It was a perfect day for imperfect nuptials. The sky was clear and bright.  The Sun was warm, but not oppressive.  A gentle breeze cooled the wedding party as the army of photographers snapped away, cautiously respectful of the worship atmosphere.  The families were warm and kind to each other. The groom stood tall and straight, exuding a leader's nobility, as he eagerly awaited the procession of his bride.  The bride was exquisite in white, a true beauty gracefully walking down the aisle on her loving father's arm. Even if you had not counseled them for several months before the day of their union, you could easily tell from their excitement, from the look of sheer delight in their eyes, that they were, in the best sense, in love. It was a perfect day. But it is just one day.  It will not last. The bridegroom will not always have the strength of nobility.  The bride will not always be an untarnished beauty.  Storms will darken the sky. ...

"I never saved anything for the swim back." Vincent challenges his brother Anton to a swimming contest.  They will swim through the ocean waves until one of them relents, until one stops and turns back. Anton is genetically superior to his brother.  Vincent was conceived "the old fashioned way," one man and one woman united in one flesh.  Anton was conceived in a test tube to be stronger, to live longer.  Vincent, it is predicted, will not live much past the age of 30. Yet it is Vincent who pulls ahead.  Against all odds he swims farther than his physically enhanced sibling, while Anton's heart fills with fear and his lungs with salt water.  Not only does Vincent defeat his brother in the swim, he also saves his life, dragging him back to shore. When Anton demands to know how Vincent is doing this, how he is living and thriving when he is supposed to be dead, Vincent responds, "I never saved anything for the swim back." Vincent had been told ...

It is well past Mother's Day, but tomorrow is Father's Day.  Maybe this post can count for both. The two most valuable spiritual lessons concerning church attendance that I have learned in my life have come from my parents, one lesson from each. My father tells the story of attending Confirmation classes with Pastor Jording.  The class was talking about going to church, and so the good reverend asked, "How many of you have to go to church?"  Every child in the room raised their hand.  Then Pastor Jording replied, "No, you don't have to go to church.  You want to go to church." Attending worship, receiving God's gifts, these things are a privilege.  They are a blessing, not a curse.  My father taught me that. One summer Sunday, as our family of four drove to the early 8:00am worship service, I asked my mother, "Since we don't have to go to school in the summer, when can we stop going to church?" Without missing a beat she repl...

 You may think that you know me because you read my blog.  But you are wrong.  You don't know me. The internet is a wonderful thing, and it allows us to communicate with people all over the world.  It also, however, allows us to create alternate versions of ourselves, avatars they are sometimes called.  So you don't know me.  You know my avatar. And this can be confusing for people.  Today people gush over the "raw" or "authentic" posts or articles that they read.  They assume that they are getting a real person.  We become "friends" on Facebook.  Maybe we think we have some really close Facebook friends.  But it is all an illusion. What goes on the internet only goes on through a series of filters.  This happens in personal communication too, but the filter there is only the human brain.  With the internet, blogs, Facebook, etc. the medium also serves as a filter. I have been thinking about this post for week...

          I read a blog post recently from a self-professed narcissist.  It was a confession of sorts written by a woman who has been cheating on her husband who happens to be a soldier deployed overseas.  He is a military hero and she is running around behind his back, apparently with several men, and is planning on divorcing him when he gets back.           As bad, as horrifying, as that all sounds, that is not really what shocked me.  What got to me was the fact that the people commenting on her post were all very supportive.  They thanked her for being honest words.  They were glad that she gave it to them "raw".           The problem is that giving words of support to a person who is engaged in such wantonly destructive behavior is not only unhelpful, but dishonest.  It is ultimately unloving and even hateful. ...

Let’s get one thing out of the way right now: you are pretty.   Half of the people on this planet are female and all of them possess an inherent beauty in their features.   Even when scarred by disease or dangerous accident a woman is a beautiful creation of God.     Some women are prettier than others.   In your life, my dear daughter, there will be women who are prettier than you.   You will be prettier than others.   This is nothing to be ashamed of, nor is it really anything to brag about.   It is a blessing from God.   Just be thankful and gracious to others no matter where they fall on the spectrum. You are your mother’s daughter and therefore will probably be on the end of the spectrum that leans toward the prettier.   (You don’t know who many times random strangers have stopped your mother and told her that she is the “most naturally beautiful woman” they have seen.)    But, also because ...