The Secret Wireless

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 ...

Tullian Tchividjian, the well known pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, has resigned his position.  According to his own statement both he and his wife committed adultery.  This disqualifies him from the pastoral office.  He has willingly acknowledged his affair and peacefully stepped aside. It is a sad day when a pastor must resign his call for any reason, but especially for living an immoral life.  Tchividjian's case gives a great deal of pause for Lutherans in particular since he was highly influenced by Luther's writings and those of contemporary Lutheran scholars such as Robert Kolb.  Tullian, in recent years, has sought to clarify the proper distinction of Law and Gospel in his own preaching as well as to spread that teaching to a wider audience. As Lutherans we have a high view of God's Word in general and of the Gospel in particular.  When a Lutheran pastor falls into temptation does he really need to resign?  Can he not simply be ...

  Jesus teaches us to pray, “ Our Father in heaven…Thy will be done. ”    But what is God’s will?   What does God want?   What are His desires, His purposes, His aims in the world? This question is especially relevant to those facing major life decisions.   High school seniors ask, “Where does God want me to go to college?”   New graduates ask, “What sort of job does God desire that I seek?”   Who should I marry?   Where should I live?   Should I take this treatment or that treatment?   What choice is the right one, which one is in line with God’s will? These ideas become very debilitating.   We can begin to be crushed under the weight of constantly trying to divine the will of God from our feelings and thoughts, trying to read all the signs that we think we are seeing.   And what if we make the wrong decision?   What if we are not living in line with God’s will? God, in His wisdom, makes it v...

             “ Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. ”   Jesus has graciously invited us to see God as our Father, and to pray to Him with the confidence of sons.   But what is a son to ask of His almighty, heavenly Father?                 We begin by praying that God’s name would be hallowed, or kept holy.   Luther’s explanation in the Small Catechism says:   “God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it.   Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven!   But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us.   Protect us from this, heavenly Father!” That’s interesting isn’t it?   The petition taught by Jesus is about the name of God being kept h...

In his most recent Issues Etc Journal Todd Wilken has this to say about our Sunday morning worship services: What if, when that Sunday morning visitor wandered into church, we made it clear to him that this is the Lord's Day and the Lord's house because the Lord Himself-Jesus-is there?  What if everything we said and did while he was visiting our church-every word, gesture, action, song and prayer-clearly confessed this?  What if, instead of reengineering the day to fit his expectations, we taught him to expect nothing less than Jesus, in person, forgiving sins? Wilken's line of questioning is right on the money.  What is missing from Christian worship is not the right style of music or the right kind of decorations.  What is often missing is Jesus.  Many churches fail to preach anything resembling the Gospel, and settle for self-help instructions for better living. Yet even among those churches where Christ is proclaimed regularly and the Lord's Supper...

The Lutheran Confessions at times speak of the Sacraments as "signs".  Philip Melanchthon writes in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, " The sacraments are not only signs among men, but signs of God's will toward us; so it is correct to define the New Testament sacraments as signs of grace.  There are two parts to a sacrament the sign and the Word. " (Apol. XXIV) I think Melanchthon is saying that in a sacrament we must distinguish between two things: the sign and the Word.  So what is the sign, and what is the Word? In baptism water is the sign.  In the Lord's Supper the sign is the bread and wine.  What does it mean to say that the water in baptism is a "sign"?  In what way can we call the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper a sign? This is difficult and fraught with danger since in the United States of America the most popular view of the sacraments comes out of the Reformed tradition of the Church.  Especially prevalent in ...

Christian, your good deeds are not filthy rags or polluted garments in the sight of God. Yes, I know, this is every Lutheran pastor's favorite verse to quote when proclaiming the Law: We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. (Isaiah 64:6a) And to an extent this is true.  It is true for the person is is without faith, for the one who is apart from Christ.  The context of Isaiah 64 suggests not a faithful people redeemed by their God, but a stiff-necked people wantonly wallowing in their sin: "Behold, you were angry and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?" (Isaiah 64:5b) Men and women who have been baptized into Christ, however, are not in this state.  Christians are redeemed by the blood of Jesus and all their sin has been covered.  Their good deeds, therefore, do please God, despite their sin. Saint Paul declares in Romans 14:23, "Whatever does not proceeds f...