Lutherandom Musings Along Memory Lane (Saturday 3/29/2014)

Remember when Saturday mornings used to be so much fun when you were a kid?

For me, I'd usually stay up as late as I could the night before (after what I thought was such a "hard" and "long" week at school), and then sleep in as late as I wanted to on Saturday morning.

The best part? Whether Dad would make us breakfast or not (his French Toast!), the even better part of my Saturday mornings growing up was plopping myself down in front of our TV to watch cartoon after cartoon! You know, the kind that were only on once-a-week and not available in an instant through YouTube and/or Netflix?

I thought about that recently and decided it might be cool to come up with a new weekly tradition of sorts for us adults to enjoy each and every Saturday morning now that we're all grown up (ok, at least some of us more than others anyway). I mean, isn't it time for us to look forward to Saturday mornings again?

Besides, it will be good for us to recall that childlike faith in fun and laughter if only for a few moments each week. You'll remember that laughter was for Luther a sign of divine grace and also an antidote against the devil too.

From the very beginning, humor had been a theological topic for Martin Luther, embracing the dramatic scope of his whole world view. He himself explained: "When I was unable to chase away the devil with serious words of with the Scripture, I often expelled him with pranks." And so this unique concept is born! Ok, so it's really not all that "cool" or "original" or "fun" to be sure, but it will be our new tradition here, and I'll try to make it worthwhile too. So who's with me then?

Please keep in mind, it won't be flashy, and it will hardly grab and hold your attention like a classic episode of the Care Bears, G.I. Joe, Thundercats, or Voltron would, but these "Lutherandom Musings Along Memory Lane" should satisfy the Confessional Lutheran's appetite for a balanced breakfast that includes your VDMA Vitamins like Vitamin A (Amusement), Vitamin B (Best of the Blogs), Vitamin C (Confessional), Vitamin D (Doctrine), and Vitamin E (Everything Else).

Each Saturday morning, God willing, I'll do my best to share some of the things I remember coming across in my unpredictable journey through Cyberspace during the week (hence, the "Along Memory Lane" part). Of course, this is also where the things you send me via email (if any) will show up too.

Ok, enough with all the commercials! Let's get the show started already, shall we?

8:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN A (AMUSEMENT): I'm sure you're well aware of President Obama's visit to the Vatican this week to meet with Pope Francis. With that in mind, I thought that this week's edition of The Lutheran Satire should have a "Catholic" flavor to it. So, here's "The Two Faces of Rome" for your enjoyment. What's it about? In short, and as the video's description says: "It's a predicament. I love me some Roman Catholic lay people. And I hate me some whacky Gospel denying Popery." Yep.


8:30AM DOSE OF VITAMIN B (BEST OF THE BLOGS): So you wanna be a "Vision Caster," huh? Or maybe you belong to a local church that's all about "Vision Casting" since that's all your "Pastor" ever talks about (and encourages you to engage in). Is that really Biblical though? Michael of JohnOne23 recently wrote an excellent blog titled "A List of Christian Theologians Who Never Taught 'Vision Casting'" that succinctly summarizes and then condemns this contemporary false doctrine and practice. As Michael reminds us, "Doctrines that are arrived upon by twisting, proof-texting, or ignoring Holy Scripture are not in any way a part of Christian doctrine." Do bookmark his page and spend some time working you way through his site's Archive, or send him a tweet on Twitter to say thanks, because he writes good stuff. In fact, we've just added his blog to our blogroll too.


9:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN C (CONFESSIONAL): A new acquaintance of mine thanks to social media, Josef Muench, has his own blog called Lutheran Munchies and he recently created a YouTube video that's an introduction to the Small Catechism. Thought it was good and wanted to share. Please reach out to Joe and tell him what you think. By the way, he LOVES baseball too so there's your "talking point" if you're looking to break the ice and get a conversation going with a complete stranger. You can also find his blog as part of our blogroll here too.


9:30AM DOSE OF VITAMIN D (DOCTRINE): Please listen to the most recent edition of Table Talk Radio because it doesn't contain any of that mediocre nonsense you've come to expect, but this time featured a return of "Iron Preacher" and so this episode contains so much solid Biblical doctrine packed into 60-minutes that it's really one of the best I've heard in a long time (then again, this is the first time I've ever heard this "Iron Preacher" game being played and absolutely loved it so I might be a little biased!).


10:00AM DOES OF VITAMIN E (EVERYTHING ELSE): This is normally the time of year when I start to get some unexpected visitors on my doorstep every Saturday morning. And why not? I mean, after all, the weather's starting to change from winter to spring, and "cabin fever" is just about over. Of course, I'm talking about the Jehovah's Witnesses who I've written about before. Now, I don't particularly mind as much as other people. They're really nice people, they certainly mean well, and they're willing to have a theological discussion with you for hours...they're just misguided into believing a false gospel. Well, now we'll have some powerful ammunition (a.k.a. the Sword of the Spirit itself) to use to make a pure confession of faith to them the next time they come knockin'. Regular guest on Table Talk Radio, Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier, recently wrote about why we need to "Watch Out For The Deception of The Watchtower (Jehovah’s Witnesses) - Why Is Jesus Called The Son of Man?" which cuts to the chase. File this one away for quick reference when you need it this spring and summer.

Sorry, but that's all I have for you this week.

In a Lutheran Layman's terms, you've been fed and, hopefully, you're wide awake by now so go and serve your neighbor in love today.


Grace and peace to you and yours!

NOTE: As you know, I am a newly converted Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is not consistent with our Confessions and Lutheran doctrine (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and point us back to) so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray. Finally, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier pieces I wrote on this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that category since I was a Lutheran-In-Name-Only at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a "Book of Concord" containing our Confessions even existed. In addition, there are some entries that are a little "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavy influenced by common Evangelical concerns/criticisms that perhaps wouldn't be too big a deal for us Lutherans. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because we now have this disclaimer and only to demonstrate the continuing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Finally, please know that any time we engage in interpreting a specific portion of Scripture exegetically, it will always follow the verse-by-verse notes from my Lutheran Study Bible unless otherwise noted. Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Grace and peace to you and yours!

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