The Secret Wireless

"Dear Lord Jesus Christ, assemble a council of Thine own, and by Thy glorious advent deliver Thy servants.  The pope and his adherents are lost.  They will have nothing to do with Thee.  But help us, poor and wretched souls who cry unto Thee and earnestly seek Thee according to the grace which Thou hast given us by Thy Holy Spirit, who with Thee and the Father liveth and reigneth, blessed forever.  Amen." 

The wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.   Those who speak empty, useless, vain words, and those who believe them, and those who associate with them, will be the subjects of this wrath.   So says Saint Paul in the first few verses of our Epistle reading from today.                 Think back upon your life.   Have you ever done wrong?   Have you said something wrong, told a lie, encouraged another to do or think wrongly?   Have you gossiped, slandered, or insulted?   These are all empty words, words that have no constructive purpose.   They are words that we speak and words that subject us to the wrath of God.                 Think about that for just a moment.   Every word that comes out of your mouth will be judged.   Every last word.   We have this idea in our day an...

     Why do we need creeds, confessions, seminaries, and synods?  Why do we need catechesis, Bible class, Church history, fellowship, liturgy, and hymns?  Aren't all of these things just a bit unnecessary?  Shouldn't the Bible be enough?  Shouldn't the individual Christian be able to sit down and read the Bible and discover the truth for himself?  Well, not exactly.     "The Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over and join this chariot (belonging to the Ethiopian eunuch).'  So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'  And he said, 'How can I unless someone guides me ?' And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him." (Acts 8:29-31)        It is not that the Bible is unclear.  A set of architectural drawings is incredibly clear to one who knows what to be looking for, but to me, the uninitiated laymen, it appears rather confusing....

Baptism           Baptism is a sacrament of the Church.   A sacrament is something that God does.   It is a way that God breaks into our lives and gives us His good gifts.   This is opposed to the word “sacrifice”.   A sacrifice is something that we do for God and His glory (praise, thank, sing, pray, etc.).   Baptism is not a sacrifice, but a sacrament.             In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus commands His disciples to make more disciples.   They are to do this in 2 ways, by baptizing and teaching.   These two elements (baptism and teaching) always go hand in hand.   One should never be done outside of the realm of the other.   If teaching will not occur, then baptism should not happen.   If baptism is not the goal, then teaching is of little use.             The word “baptize” ...

     There has been much turmoil surrounding the subject of the final film in the "Dark Knight" trilogy.  The shootings in Colorado have put a dark cloud over this movie.  Yet I do not think we should allow tragedy to be the only thing we remember from this film.  It has much to say and many themes in common with the Scriptures.      That being said, I wish to explore a few of those themes and how they are similar to a Biblical worldview and Christian faith. (This could be a potential "SPOILER", so I shall tread carefully.) Sin and Despair : At the beginning of the film Bruce Wayne is "not Batman anymore."  He is a shell of the man he once was.  The state of his soul is reflected by the state of his body: weakened, battered, and broken.  Alfred comments that Bruce can only see one end to his story as Batman.  In other words, he has lost all hope.      Commissioner Jim Gordon ...

"Judge not, lest ye be judged!"  These words of Jesus are often hurled at those who hold to a traditional morality and confess Christ as their savior.  Anyone who believes in Jesus must obviously never judge anyone about anything at any time. This, however, is not possible.  Jesus Himself makes judgments, rather harsh judgements at times.  Saint Paul tells the Corinthian congregation to judge those inside the Church.  And Jesus does not give men and women license to live however they please.  He calls them from their sin-filled lives and into fellowship with Himself. The point Jesus is trying to make in Matthew 7 is that we should hold others to the same standard to which we hold ourselves.  As Christians this means we should be encouraged to call others to repentance when they sin against us.   I certainly would want someone to point out my sins rather than let them go unchecked (as unpleasant of an experience as that might be).  ...