Liturgical Dancers To The Left Of Me, Drum Circles To The Right

This morning I found in the inbox my monthly Youth Ministry E-bulletin from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The E-bulletin focused on the recent national youth gathering that wrapped up down in New Orleans a few weeks ago. One thing really caught my eye…

Rev. Dr. Terry Dittmer, the director of the Youth Ministry Office of the District and Congregational Services , in his final thought this month, looks back at the national youth gathering and distinguishes what he believes was really the highlight of the conference.

Now, just what do ya’ll think that most memorable moment was? Was it the liturgical dancers? No. Was it the dynamic drum circle that hypnotized the crowd? No. Was it classes where the youth were taught prayer walking so that they can go out and reclaim lost spiritual territories? No. Or was the most memorable moment “the elegance of divine service and the liturgy” or “the celebration of the Lord's Supper with the 24,000 youth and adults”. No, that was not the most memorable moment for the head of youth ministry in our beloved synod.

Instead, the most memorable moment, according to Rev. Dittmer’s was:

But, to me, the single most moving, dignified part of that service was the procession of Christ's body from the cross down the center aisle of the Superdome. The story of Christ's crucifixion was recounted. At the end of the story, Christ's body was taken from the cross to be put in the borrowed tomb. His body was placed on a gurney and carried out of the dome on the shoulders of young people. Now, everybody knew it was an actor portraying Jesus laying on the stretcher. But, spontaneously, as the body was transported from the stage, the assembly rose with profound respect for what the scene was depicting. There wasn't a sound in the house. In that dramatic moment, the truth of what we know about Christ's suffering, death and resurrection were shown as real. Here was the truth - fully on display. Christ died for our sins. WE BELIEVE.

I’m, not having been to a seminary and not being a pastor and all, well, I’m just a little unclear on something here… exactly how are we brought to faith? And how exactly is that faith in Christ and His salvific work given to us by God sustained? I thought that we believed by the hearing of the Word as St. Paul says in his epistle to the Romans and the Galatians and not by things that we see as the writer to the Hebrews states. Isn’t that what Lutherans teach and confess in the Augsburg Confession?

I wonder what happens to the youth (and the adults as well) when they go home to their congregations and don’t have so dramatic a worship experience. I wonder…

Finally, A Praise Song That Gets Me To Emote

I’ve been criticized on more than one occasion, usually by my evangelical friends but also by Lutheran folk, for just not being emotive enough on a Sunday morning while singing hymns. How anybody can tell that I’m not getting emotional enough by looking at a list of the hymns we sing in a bulletin without actually standing next me in the pew and monitoring my facial expressions, body language, and lacrimation output is beyond me.

Well, to all those folk who think that my attachment to good catechetical and historical hymns has left me unable to be emotional or incapable of singing along with praise team leader and not feel the words that I’m singing, let me once and for all put your mind at ease.

The embedded video is a praise song from the Crazy Praize Volume 3 CD. The CD is described thusly:

The third volume in this very popular series of wacky praise songs for kids features ten new songs, with equally silly motions guaranteed to produce giggles and guffaws every time. Great for kids worship times, or anytime, these songs are not only fun, but they're loaded with scriptural truth to reinforce the message of God's love and grace in the hearts of children- young and old. In addition to the hilarious songs on the recording, there is a companion DVD available that teaches 7 of the amusing titles motions(notated in the song list by an *), and a DVD with lyrics and moving images for background use for every song.

I think it’s safe for me to say, without any reservation whatsoever, that if I sang the song in the video, on a Sunday morning, in my church, I would get very, very emotional. Really. No joke.

HT: Fighting for the Faith

Lutherans Didn’t Invent Contemporary Worship And Comparing CCM To Psalms

In spite of this month being one of the busiest I’ve experienced in years, I took a friend up on her offer to participate in a discussion where a commenter on her site was trying to make the case that songs of the contemporary Christian music variety’s focus on the “personal relationship” was no different that that of the personal nature of the Palms. Wrote the commenter:

As for the “personal relationship” aspect of new hymns, read the psalms, the hymnbook in our bible, and it is so personal, you can’t escape the first person, personal expression, speaking out to God, crying out to God aspect of it. Three kinds of psalms – mad, glad or sad. All personal.
So many traditional Lutheran hymns are just loaded with secondary discourse – you can sing them and keep your distance and stay far away as you doze off, waiting for them to be done soon.

And later:

As for expediency, I just find it is way easier to reach people in worship using modern contemporary sounding music whether it is amazing grace with guitar, A Mighty Fortress on Guitar, or something being written today.
I’ve heard they have Luther’s original chart of A Mighty Fortress, arranged on… guitar. Lutherans broke the mold with indigenous contemporary worship but, for the most part, have let the evangelicals pave the way, the Lutherans sticking to what was familiar to them. We are not doing what Luther did. We stay comfortable rather than reach new people. We prefer insider language and music. Seems different to me than what Jesus would have done. Didn’t he leave everything to reach those far from God?
If contemporary worship music helps us reach new people, and traditional hymnody honestly just scares many people away, are we sticking with our traditions at the expense of the great commission?

Boy howdy, talk about bringing a knife to a gunfight! Those two hundred and thirty eight words have enough fodder for a month’s worth of posts!

First, the statement "Lutherans broke the mold with indigenous contemporary worship" is simply untrue even if it is repeated entirely too often. It was many, many years before the reformers even moved the Divine Service from Latin to the vernacular German. In the Augsburg Confession (ACXXIV) the Lutheran reformers went so far as to confess that they preserved the order of the mass, save the parts sung in Latin and the hymns which were in German to “to teach the people. For ceremonies are needed to this end alone that the unlearned be taught [what they need to know of Christ].” Again, what was that about teaching being “secondary”? No sir, teaching in traditional Lutheran hymnody was always a primary function of these hymns and not something “secondary” or something to “doze off” to.

The most elementary look at church history would find that singing by the congregations had almost disappeared by the time of the reformation. By the sixteenth century most of the singing was entrusted only to professional choirs or musicians. It was the reformers who brought back sung confessions of the church catholic to the laity in the Greek, Latin, and yes, German hymnody (and by Greek and Latin I mean the style of the hymns and not the languages) so that these hymns would strengthen Christ’s church.

To think that the hymns of saints whom have fallen asleep no longer have anything to offer us today is as theologically uninformed as it is arrogant. Traditional Lutherans sing the hymns they do because of their theological depth and their clear confession of Christ and His work and not because they are trying to use “insider language and music” and keep to themselves. A singing, confessing church is a proclaiming church and in doing so she is in fact carrying out the Great Commission. A singing, confessing church uses her hymnody to make disciples by teaching all that her Lord has given her in song as well as by the Word.

But what of the Psalms? Do they show us that we need to follow the contemporary Christian music’s trend to make the “personal relationship” the material principle of our sung confession and not follow the reformation tradition of hymn as a catechetical device?

I take issue with the Psalms being perceived as personalized in the same way that the majority of modern Christian music accomplishes its personalization. The easiest way to test contemporary Christian music is to simply look at the grammar: scrutinizing who the song about by looking at who is the subject of the verbs. If we, or our feelings, or our works, or our actions are the subject of the song, it is about us and is not about us the work and person of Jesus. Using the Psalms as a baseline is actually a pretty good idea in that our hymnody should at least measure up to the various psalmists in both proclamation as well as theological content. When put side by side with the Psalms, the vast majority of contemporary Christian music simply doesn’t measure up as it’s clichéd and vapid with it’s banality guaranteeing it’s proper place in the pile of forgotten one hit wonders currently playing on K-LOVE.

Yep, I’ll be happy to use the Psalms as a “traditional” benchmark any day of the week!

Pr. Fisk’s Goal Malady gLAWspel Video

No matter how many times as I’ve watched the embedded video from Pastor Jonathon Fisk I always find myself cheering and wanting to hit the replay button to watch it again, and again, and again. Pastor Fisk hits a home run going from explaining our freedom to do good works not because we have to but because we get to and then juxtaposing the account of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus over Martha’s work in her kitchen as Christian freedom.

What happens when the we get to gets mixed up with the we have to? Pastor Fisk has called this confusing the good news of the Gospel with Law or something that we have to do “GLawspel” and he explains it, there’s no other word for it, brilliantly.

Most of my Lutheran friends have already seen the video but I’m hoping that folks who are outside of Lutheranism might give Pr. Fisk a shot at explaining a very difficult subject that I would argue plauges most of the churches in west and especially in our own country.

I strongly suspect that Pastor Fisk’s videos will become a staple here at POTF as I love his humor and ability to teach in a somewhat unorthodox manner with orthodoxy never compromised.

The Quote of The Week From A Friend On Facebook

‎Today’s quote of the week is from one of my friends on Facebook commenting on my status where I stated that I believe that "liturgical puppets are a sign of the apocalypse." After watching the embedded video my friend replied: ‎

"That would NEVER happen in our church I know that for certain, mainly because almost everyone is a member of NRA"

It is good to know that whatever differences we might have concerning liturgical settings of the Divine Service, we both agree that puppets belong on Sesame Street and not in church as part of worship.

Time Out Episode 75 Goes Into Overtime!

Dan over at Necessary Roughness has the newest Time Out: Time Out, Episode 75 posted.

The Scripture reading for this episode is from Amos 9 with commentary from the Kretzmann Commentary Series on Amos and Obadiah. The hymn this time is “We All Believe in One True God” found on page 954 in the Lutheran Service Book with a Bonus Bumper: Mozart – Requiem, “Dies Irae”.

The reading from Amos contains both Law and Gospel in that the booth/shelter of David, God’s people will be repaired and raised up, never to be uprooted again.

The hymn for this episode is Martin Luther’s catechism hymn for the Apostles’ Creed and definitely worth your time to replay and commit to memory. There are not many hymns that teach the faith as much as Luther’s catechism hymns and perhaps the Te Deum laudamus

If all that wasn’t enough… Time Out goes into overtime with submissions from listeners celebrating Dan’s birthday and the podcast’s 75th anniversary!

Be sure to stop by, say howdy, and thank Dan for doing such a great job on Time Out, Episode 75 and wish him a happy birthday while you’re at it!



Previous Time Out episodes:

Time Out Episode 74
Time Out Episode 73
Time Out Episode 72

God Hates Comic Book Geeks?

Every year literally thousands upon thousands of people gather in San Diego for the annual San Diego Comic-Con. The San Diego Comic-Con is the largest comic book and pop culture themed convention of it’s kind in the world. While originally showcasing comic books the convention has grown to include exhibits from movie studios, gaming companies, toys and collectibles over the years. If you want to promote a project, San Diego Comic-Con is one of the best places to get noticed.

This weekend, San Diego Comic-Con will have a new guest that is sure to make the news. From blastr.com:

The Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, which is headed by Fred Phelps and which has made headlines over the past few years for a series of protests of events such as the funerals of Meet the Press host Tim Russert (because of his Catholicism and what they termed his "tolerance of homosexuality") and Jerry Falwell (whom they termed a "false prophet') and perhaps most notably the funerals of American servicemen killed overseas, have announced that they plan to picket the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con from 1:15 pm to 2 p.m. on Thursday, July 22.

The reason they're going to protest the con? We think it's best described in their own words, as posted on their website:

"Are you kidding?! If these people would spend even some of the energy that they spend on these comic books, reading the Bible, well no high hopes here. They have turned comic book characters into idols, and worship them they do! Isaiah 2:8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not. It is time to put away the silly vanities and turn to God like you mean it. The destruction of this nation is imminent - so start calling on Batman and Superman now, see if they can pull you from the mess that you have created with all your silly idolatry."

Boy howdy! Westboro Baptist Church at the San Diego Comic-Con? Well, this ought to be a hoot. Now, some might wonder why would the folks from Westboro will only protesting for forty-five minutes? That’s an easy question to answer! Once the attendees find out that members of Westboro Baptist Church are protesting comic book heroes outside of the largest convention in America, they will likely go outside and beat the crap out of these misguided folk with their Force FX lightsaber replicas. And, let’s be honest, getting your butt whooped by a bunch of geeks dressed up as Black Lantern Firestorm and Captain America with lightsabers is embarrassing even for the members of Westboro Baptist Church. Also, it doesn’t make for good publicity no matter who or what you’re protesting.

Seriously, while it’s good that the Westboro Baptist Church folks (who gained national recognition for protesting military funerals) have learned another verse besides the two from Leviticus; 18:22 and 20:13 which state the Biblical prohibition of homosexuality it’s sad that they never, ever seem to be able to proclaim anything resembling the Gospel: that Jesus died for all sinners.

A quick look at Westboro’s website shows that today they will be protesting yet another military funeral with signs that read "Thank God for Dead Soldiers", "Thank God for IEDs", "God Hates America", "God Is Your Enemy", and "America Is Doomed". What’s missing? Jesus and everything that He has done for every sinner on the planet is completely absent from their messages. A sign that condemns sin without the Gospel is no Gospel at all. Sorry folks, but a gospeless message is as much a help to poor miserable sinners as Joel Schumacher was to the Batman franchise back in the nineties.

From their track record it is highly unlikely that Westboro will do the work that churches are supposed to do and that is preach repentance and Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins instead of their normative God hating sinners schtick. It’s sad really as that the forgiveness of sins is what all sinners need to hear about whether they are homosexual, murders, or just like me: chief among sinners.

Does God hate comic book geeks? Nope. In fact He loves them so much that He gave them Jesus, His only Son to die for all the sins of the world. A treasure so great that even Overstreet could not measure the worth.

Now, if ya’ll excuse me I need to start working on my Colonial Marine costume before the weekend gets here so I get a picture next to the Nostromo "Hibernation Chambers".

HT: Jim

Children’s Hymns Have More Depth Theologically Than Contemporary Worship Songs

Back on June 26, Dr. T. David Gordon, author of Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Rewrote the Hymnal was on my favorite radio program Issues, Etc. Today’s Issues, Etc. Today's Issues, Etc. soundbite of the day is from that interview and has Dr. Gordon making the case that there are some children's hymns that have more depth theologically than contemporary worship songs.

The entire interview can be heard here.

Controversy, KFUO, And The LCMS? Again? I’m Shocked!

So, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod sells it’s KFUO radio station to a contemporary Christian music station. Check. Then, oh this just priceless then “The Lutheran Church forced all Classic 99 employees to sign an agreement that is at the least questionable under Missouri and federal labor law. It states that if employees want six months severance pay they can not work for anyone, at any job, anywhere, for those 6 months” according to Fox2 out of St. Louis.

I seem to recall LC-MS, Inc. not acting like a fair and decent employer much less a church on another occasion just a little over two years ago. Hmm, I sense a pattern here somewhere. What a pathetic display of the soulless dominion of corporate orthodoxy.

And people wonder why I hope things get shaken up a bit next week…

Update: I have a source that tells me the KFUO employees are saying that Charles Jaco is misreporting this story and it just isn't true. I’ll keep looking for updates so as to figure out what the heck is going on here.

Dream Work And The Upcoming Synodical Convention

If… LC-MS Southeastern District spiritual directors are correct and what was taught concerning dream work at a recent prayer and spiritual formation workshop was in fact “reclaiming our ancient heritage going way back, right to the New Testament”, “one way of consciously getting in touch with God’s will for us and cooperating with it” and here to stay so if ya’ll don’t like it “you really ought to consider leaving the Lutheran Church, and joining up with the Fundamentalists; they would be more aligned to your way of seeing things” then…

What does it mean when someone like myself has a dream that has Pr. Matt Harrison holding up a copy of the Reporter, the official newspaper of the LC-MS, after votes have been cast for the election of synodical president with the headline reading Kieschnick Defeats Harrison just the picture we’ve all seen of Harry Truman holding up the Chicago Daily Tribune proclaiming that he’d been defeated by Thomas Dewey contrary to the actual results of the election. What does this mean?

I’m simply not sure what to make of this dream. I know that maybe I should look at this as prophecy of sorts because according to one of the LC-MS’s soul winningest congregation’s time and talent surveys I have two spiritual gifts; the first being discernment and the second… wait for it… prophecy! But to be honest I’m always a little bit uneasy with such stuff even if the congregation who allowed me to take the survey does log more critical events than almost any other. I guess part of my problem is that I’m just not feeling the whole “reclaiming our ancient heritage” thingy nor do I feel any “energy” or an “ah-ha feeling” that I was told to seek in the prayer and spiritual formation workshop concerning dream work.

I also know that very, very smart people who have business degrees have stated that what we need in these uncertain economic times is the unchanging structured leadership of the President Kieschnick while the delegates at the convention contemplate completely changing the LC-MS’s structure governance. In addition, with President Kieschnick’s pledging to his supporters that he will in fact serve another 3 (or 4) year term just confounds me that much more when I think back to the dream. Why would I dream that Pr. Harrison won the election when President Kieschnick has assured folks that this simply will not come to pass?

It is just a dream, isn’t it? Maybe I need to make a call to my SED spiritual director and ask him to help me figure it out since it was he who declared, “A dream unexamined is like a letter unopened.”

An Irenaeus Quote And Guarding Against Heretics

The following is today’s reading from the Treasury of Daily Prayer:

We have learned from none others the plan of salvation, than from those whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and the pillar of our faith…

We allege…against those who do not recognize Paul as an apostle: that they should either reject the other words of the Gospel which we have come to know through Luke alone, and not make any use of them; or else, if they do receive all these, they must necessarily admit also that testimony concerning Paul, when he (Luke) tells us that the Lord spoke at first to him from heaven: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? I am Jesus Christ, whom you persecute”; and then to Ananias, saying regarding him: “Go your way; for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name among the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him, from time to time, how great things he must suffer for My names sake.” Those, therefore, who do not accept him [as a teacher], who was chosen by God for this purpose, that he might boldly bear His name, as being sent to the forementioned nations, despise the election of God and separate themselves from the company of the apostles… But they are altogether deceived who imagine that they may learn from the scriptural text adduced by heretics, that [doctrine] which their words plausibly teach. For error is plausible and bears a resemblance to the truth but requires to be disguised; while the truth is without disguise and, therefore, has been entrusted to children.

-Irenaeus of Lyons

Sadly, there are many folks in the church today, both in leadership positions and otherwise, who should fall under the same critique as those who Irenaeus addressed in the quote above. These persons, while teaching in public forums disparage Saint Paul for being too focused on doctrine or too systematic with the ease at which they openly scorn their ex-wives. While expressing concerns that sound Biblical doctrine is a hindrance to spirituality and kingdom growing, these false teachers are more than happy to introduce the doctrines and practices of mystics who believed that God is a she and “sin is necessary part of life because it brings one to self-knowledge” as well as Roman Catholic monks who actually fought against the Lutheran reformers for a papacy which can praise the devotion of members who state “I will believe that the white that I see is black if the hierarchical Church so defines it!”

Irenaeus correctly ties the Gospel preached by the apostle Paul with the one they learned from Luke who records eye witness testimony to assemble his Gospel text, Paul’s conversion, as well as traveled with him for a bit on his missionary journeys. If they fail to acknowledge Paul’s epistles as being received by God (and if being consistent is an attribute that doesn't offend their post modern sensibilities) then shouldn’t they throw out Luke’s testimony as well? Or maybe a effortless re-imagining of Luke’s account will suit what it is that they wish to introduce into the Church as some seem to have the tendency to do these days with the praise and approval of their ecclesiastical superiors.

I guess that since Saint Peter considered the epistles of Paul to be Scripture (2 Peter 3:16), the setting aside Peter’s epistles as suspect along with the Gospel according to Mark (as Mark’s account is more than likely derived from the testimony of Peter) might also be in order so we don’t fall into an abyss of doctrine where the color white is white and black is black to the vexation of that Roman monk some idolize.

Just as when Irenaeus was defending the Gospel against the Gnostics and those who wished to introduce into the Church new doctrines and practices cloaked in biblical terminology and themes; we must be on guard right now, today, for wolves that hide themselves behind plausible errors that resemble Biblical truths while maintaining that these new or recovered teachings are for the purpose of growing the kingdom, spirituality, or even salvation itself.

As Irenaeus wisely points out, a heretic’s errors are often disguised as plausible teachings and bear a resemblance to the truth. We must always, always be watchful and test what is being taught in the name of God to the very Word of God whether we are pastors, deaconesses, Sunday school teachers, or even slack jawed yokels like myself.

Time Out Episode 71

Dan over at Necessary Roughness has the newest Time Out: Time Out, Episode 71 posted.

The Scripture reading for this episode is from Ezekiel 3 with commentary from the Kretzmann Commentary Series. The hymn this time is “Rise, Shine, You People” found on page 825 in the Lutheran Service Book.

In Ezekiel 3, God holds Ezekiel accountable for the preaching of repentance and deliverance of his people. These are stern words for both the person who would speak for God words that God did not deliver and the person who was given words to say by God in his word and did not deliver his message.

Hymn 825, in the Mission and Witness section of the Lutheran Service Book, ties into this by reminding us that we are to celebrate and spread the good news about the Triune God that saves us.

Be sure to stop by, say howdy, and thank Dan for doing such a great job on Time Out, Episode 71!

Previous Time Out episodes:

Time Our Episode 70
Time Our Episode 69
Time Our Episode 68
Time Our Episode 67
Time Our Episode 66
Time Our Episode 65
Time Our Episode 64
Time Our Episode 63
Time Our Episode 62
Time Our Episode 61
Time Our Episode 60
Time Our Episode 59
Time Our Episode 58
Time Our Episode 57

Nineteen Years Ago…

On June 21, 1991 I walked into a movie theater and met the women who would be my missus. A three o’clock in the afternoon exactly one year later we were married.

I count each and every day since walking into that theater as a blessing from God. I knew the moment I met her that she was the person who I wanted to bury me and fortunately she thought so as well.

Happy anniversary missus!

Who Get’s A Church Sign’s Top Billing In June?

Maybe it’s always been the case and I never noticed it before, I’m just not sure. There are several churches on the way to work that have signs that do more than advertise when the congregation gathers for Sunday worship. Of the ones that fall into that grouping are a couple that like to distinguish themselves with cute or whimsical proverbs (but rarely proverbs of a Biblical origin or nature) that I believe are meant to attract folks driving by as in common with many churches across this country.

One thing that is nearly always absent from church signs is the second person of the Trinity: Jesus. God the Father usually receives the top billing as far as I can tell with the Holy Spirit bring up a strong second place showing. Jesus, if He does make an appearance, is usually consigned to being a mere concept or idea as best as I can tell. There are lots of short sayings that mention someone that will make my life easier, make me a better person, that loves me very much, or even some friend that hasn’t sent a friend request on Facebook for me to accept in my heart yet... you get the idea. It is however, an odd day that I see Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord proclaimed in any clarity and by His name on a church sign. If you think I'm exaggerating then go for a drive this weekend, look around at all the church signs in your neighborhood, and you'll see what I mean.

This really shouldn’t come as a too much of a surprise when people held up as popular pastors within Americanized Christianity rarely, if ever, mention Jesus in their sermons. Should we expect the crucified and risen Lord to appear on a church sign if He ain’t proclaimed in our seeker sensitive purpose driven worship services? Nah, not really.

Now, as I noted above, I think I’ve noticed a change in the church signs on the way to work in the last few weeks. It made sense once I caught on but I still thought it was bizarre and an indication of the health of the Americanized church. It seems that while Jesus may be missing in action, Ted and Debbie along with Cheryl and Stacy made onto their church’s signs in the month of June. Who the heck are these people you ask?

Ted and Debbie were being congratulated on their recently wedding while Cheryl and Stacy were receiving praise for graduating from the local high school (in might have been college but I suspect otherwise as the high schools graduations usually fall in the month of June ‘round here).

I have no problem celebrating weddings or graduations. As members of a congregation marry or go off to school. I think it’s a good that we hold the calling of husband, wife, or student in high regard and as important vocations in which our Lord has graciously placed these folk. The odd thing, to me anyways, is that so many churches I’m driving by seem to have taken into account and marked June as a time to observe weddings and graduations while the rest of the year they either couldn’t or wouldn’t find a way mark the one person they are called to proclaim to the world: Jesus!

Is sticking Jesus on your church’s sign and giving Him top billing one Sunday too much to ask? Apparently so as Ted and Debbie and Cheryl and Stacy made it onto their congregation’s signs before Jesus did in the year 2010! Sheesh.

So, what do the readers of POTF have on their church’s signs? Do the signs in front of your church find a way to proclaim Jesus and His cross or do they follow the trends of the congregations I pass on the way to work? Just wondering…

Is False Teaching A Violation Of The Second Commandment?

I’m way behind in listening to my podcasts so today’s soundbite of the day comes from a segment that aired two weeks ago to the day on Issues, Etc. I hope the guys at IE don’t mind that it takes some of us a while to listen to all the shows…

Back on May 27 Pastors Henrickson and Woerth discussed on the Pastors’ Roundtable the fact that Dr. Luther’s viewed teaching falsely in the name of God was the most egregious violation of the Second Commandment. Is false teaching a violation of the second commandment? Absolutely!

The second commandment of course is “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain” which was given, along with the other commandments, by Yahweh to Moses in Exodus 20:7. The Small Catechism explains the second commandment this way:

We should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

The entire segment where Pastors Henrickson and Woerth discuss the second commandment can be heard here. It’s a great segment and well worth your time.