When I began this blog, like Saint Jude, “although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” That battle will go on from now to the eschaton when the final trumpet will make its wonderful and fearsome clarion call. For now, it’s time for me to stow my pen and inkwell, so that I can devote more time to my other vocations, plus relax a little. But before I go, I’d like to take one last precious moment to sit with you and share a brief thought or two.
Scripture commands us to contend for the faith. It isn’t optional. We are to watch our doctrine and teaching closely, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. At times, even when we succeed in doing so with gentleness and respect, we will be viewed as unloving, and insulted and persecuted because of it. That’s okay; we are blessed in the midst of tribulation, and know that the real battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil. We will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel. "I believed, and so I spoke." Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
I look forward to hearing from you in the future. You’ll likely see me on line from time to time, and perhaps the occasional article written here or there will remind you that I haven’t flown off the edge of the map. Hopefully we’ll be able to break bread with one another at some point, and if not, we will certainly do so at the great banquet feast on high, both the one in eternity and the one we share every Sunday at the Lord’s Table. In the mean time, stay confessional my friends. Thanks for reading, and remember to stand firm!
Your eternal debtor in Christ,
Scott Diekmann
+ In Nomine Jesu +
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with your spirit, brothers.
Amen.
Galatians 6:18
21 comments:
Great job, Scott. You done good. And closing it off with J.S. Bach's "Soli Deo Gloria" monogram is the perfect touch.
Joe Strieter
Thanks Joe, and thanks for reading all of those blog posts! I'm sure I'll be talking to you again soon.
I so look forward to reading your writings. I so hope that I continue to see anything that you write as these have been a great affirmation of my thought processes concerning my faith. I have heard that you excel in all of your vocations but I can tell you that it shines through that you do so for Soli Deo Gloria. You are a gift from the Father.
That was a very generous comment Lee. Really, I'm a poor miseable sinner that's so thankful for what Christ has done for me, and for friends like you as well.
Scott, We have appreciated reading your blog each day and will surely miss it. It has been a building up of the "brothers". We know it is a lot of work for you to keep the blog up and so understand why you want a break.
BTW Is that your daughter (Paige) at Fort Wayne that we have seen on our son's (John) Facebook comments?
Loren and Gloria Koopman
Thanks Loren and Gloria. Yep, Paige is in her first year at Fort Wayne in the Deaconess program.
Scott,
Hate to see you go. Hopefully you'll keep this blog up for us to review and maybe you'll be back.
Thanks for all your insights over the years. I look forward to seeing you at the LCA and BJS conferences down the road.
Blessings,
Jim Claybourn
Hi Jim. I'm definitely not going to delete the blog, and will keeps the links current as well. I'm planning on attending both the BJS and LCA conferences in 2013, so hopefully I'll see both of you there. Thanks for reading. Scott
Scott -
Question"
Why don't you quit flying for the airline and get thy posterior off to the Fort, and get the flying lessons of the Lord?
You have the gift, obviously!
jb
Thanks jb. Our daughter is in her first year of the Deaconess program at the Fort. Maybe we could be the first father-daughter tag team at the sem.
Scott -
Go for it!
I promise you you will love it!
Did the Fort with Marquart and Scaer and Preus and Zietlow and Wenthe and Weinrich (who had the nerve to give a "B-" when my average was an "A" - but in all the absolute fun of it all, I took the grade anyway.
Heh.
You cannot get too much of Jesus, if I can be so colloquial - but it is true. And if you go, go quickly - St. Kurt baptized his grandchild on the morning of his death and now smiles and worships with us in the Proper Preface, but Scaer is alive and kicking ans still his old irascible self, and his Christology class is worth ten times the price.
Whatever you choose to do, do it in the Lord Christ, and be most assured that His blessings are upon you.
Pax - jb
Thanks for the encouragement jb. "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39 ESV
Blessings on your "retirement" from this blog 'for a while.' I have always received something from each of your posts. Enjoyed the pictures of your travels and places you have been. Would love to take up flying again myself--but as a small parish pastor the money just would not be there. BLESSINGS!!!
Thanks for reading Pastor Sterle. God's blessings as you feed your flock through Word and Sacrament.
Thank you Scott for a job well done. Will see you in Naperville. Have to forgo the Fort and Symposium this year due to eye surgery.
Pax,
Dennis
Thanks Dennis. I'll see you there!
Dear Christian,
Someone has convinced you that a square can be a circle. Someone has convinced you that the blood-thirsty, psychopathic god of the Old Testament is the same being as the loving, compassionate Jesus of the Gospels.
Squares can never be circles.
Your belief system is an ancient middle-eastern superstition. If you choose to continue to hold onto it that it is certainly your right. However, you are teaching this superstition to little children. Please consider what you are doing. These children deserve to know the Truth.
I encourage you to watch this five minute video on this subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqfGu6vTxFY
Best wishes,
Gary
No Gary, I'm not watching your video. "But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me" (2 Timothy 1:12). "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" (John 14:6). The Lord of the Old Testament is the same Lord of the New Testament.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous[b] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,[c] 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ---I Corinthians 6:9-10
If you are an LCMS Lutheran, how often have you heard an LCMS pastor's sermon, or read an LCMS pastor's blog article, on the sin of Divorce (divorce other than for infidelity), the sin of Adultery, the sin of Fornication, or the sin of being a Drunkard?
Now compare the number of times that you have heard or read an LCMS pastor preach from his pulpit or from his blog on the damning sins of Divorce, Adultery, Fornication, and Drunkenness with the number of times you have heard the same LCMS pastor preach about the sin of Homosexuality from his pulpit and blog. I will bet that the number of sermons condemning Homosexuality will exceed the total of all the other sins combined.
But, not only is the sin of Homosexuality preached against (attacked) more frequently from the pulpits and blogs of LCMS pastors, but the name calling against the perpetrators of this particular sin far exceeds the name calling against divorcees, adulterers, fornicators, and drunkards. "Sodomites", "Perverts" "Boy Sodomizers", "Degenerates" are perfectly acceptable terms for the perpetrators of the sin of Homosexuality, but the cute, little cashier at the corner market who has shacked-up with her boyfriend for the last two years is not referred to as "that Fornicator", nor is the drunkard standing in front of the LCMS altar, pronouncing the Words of Institution, referred to as a "vile and evil Drunk". No. The good pastors of the LCMS have decided that just one of the sins in the above Bible verse, and the perpetrators of that one sin in the above Bible verse, deserve their greatest attention, condemnation, and vilification.
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod...officially...will tell you that LCMS Lutheran Christians hate Homosexuality but love the people "afflicted" by the sin of Homosexuality. In other words, the official position of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is: "Hate the sin, but love the sinner."
But the reality is, that a very significant percentage of pastors in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod hate homosexuals. They really, really hate homosexuals! Homosexuals make their skin crawl and their stomachs squeemish. Yes, you read that previous sentence correctly. A significant percentage of LCMS pastors hate gays and lesbians.
Don't believe me? Look at the evidence for yourself.
I challenge you to go onto the blogs of some of the most popular LCMS pastors' blogs and do a topic search on "homosexuality". Read the articles, but more importantly, read the comments below the articles. In the comment section, you will find some of the most vile, vicious, anti-gay hate speech, most often written by the pastor's gay-bashing, gay-hating, God-fearing conservative Christian readers---such as the infamous "Carl Vehse", otherwise known (without his white robe and hood) as Richard Strickert of Austin, Texas---all written without any censoring or rebuke from the LCMS pastor/blog owner/moderator...and... sometimes you will even catch one of these Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod "men of God" spewing this vitriolic hate speech himself.
Conclusion: A significant percentage of pastors in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod are gay-bashing Peddlers of Hate, and for this reason the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod must be placed on the Hate Watch lists of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU, and every other human rights organization in the United States---until the leadership/hierarchy of this Christian denomination finally develops the backbone and intestinal fortitude to put an end to this hateful, un-American, disgraceful behavior.
I'm new to your old blog, but there's so much great stuff in there I'll be reading my it for a while. I'm glad it lives on.
Thanks for reading, Lisa B.!
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