The Very Lutheran Project

Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” -John 6:28-29 This is the essence of Christian obedience. Anyone who tells you anything else is feeding you false doctrine.

Humanity's habit of admiring something until they see it up close is a great source of alienation and sin. Sheesh, even dudes are getting criticized for having body hair. Also now I have to find John Sunflower and spar him, since we've both done the same kata.

When I was in Japan I was involved in Karate, one of the things we did was called Sanchin which is a breathing/movement exercise. Anyways for this movement men would take off their shirts (lots of flexing so the girls can see) They called me a monkey because I am significantly hairier than the Japanese.

Enough about mansplaining. We need to stop womancomplaining

TRVKE

https://kotaku.com/china-introduces-new-laws-to-prevent-people-from-falling-in-love-with-ai-chatbots-2000717442 China banning "AI girlfriends?" Two things: 1. This ought to be for BOTH AI "girlfriends" and AI "boyfriends." If they don't ban both, then the birthrates will continue to decline because females are more likely to use these companion programs. 2. This is common sense policy and AI "companions" should be banned everywhere.

NEW SPIRITUAL WARFARE POST NOW UP! We've identified the devil and his angels, talked about the first steps in mounting a defense, discussed how to detect their activity, and went over how one gets rid of evil spirits. We also brought up the Lutheran Reformers' perspective on it. But chances are you won't find yourself interacting with demonic spirits often. To the contrary, the bulk of our spiritual warfare is found in interacting with the *world.* Audio: https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/lutheran-warfare-6-the-devils Video: https://youtu.be/LctTW6gDVDo Support the VLP! We've got a lot of ground to cover, especially as more and more demonic stuff comes to light in the news. https://verylutheran.gumroad.com/

23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. -Matthew 21:23-27 Institutional thinking is nothing new. The Pharisees had run into many a man who thought himself a prophet, men who spun up insane heterodox teaching and dragged fools into cults. As this incident in our reading plays out, just 30 miles away the Qumran cult was convincing young men to give all of their possessions to the community and walk around naked for days. They were also polytheists who believed that other gods would assist them in an eschatological battle (their practice of astrology informed them of this). To protect from heretical movements like that, the institutional process was solidified throughout Judea. If someone wanted to be a rabbi they had to go to be recommended, go to school, and be an apprentice to a senior rabbi for years before taking on the management of a synagogue. After decades, the teacher *might* be formally ordained through the Semicha ceremony, whereby he would be given the authority to judge doctrinal matters with the rest of the Sanhedrin. The high priest would oversee much of this process with some level of veto power. This ought to sound familiar. For over a millennium now most of the Church has done the same thing. Someone who wants to be a priest must be recommended by the congregation, go through seminary, spend a year or two as a vicar, then be sent to pastor a small congregation for years and years until maybe they become a consecrated bishop. Among the papists, the Pope takes the place of high priest for such ordinations. On the one hand, such a burdensome institutional process is necessary. Otherwise believers are vulnerable to the chaotic winds of doctrinal change, and cults proliferate by the self empowerment of stupid men. On the other hand, the ossification of the process and traditions makes it extremely hard to reform the institution. Once false teaching worms its way in, it digs itself in deep so that removing it greatly harms the body. Notice a problem, an obvious false doctrine or sin? Go through the right channels and you may have a chance at fixing it over the course of 50 years - just kidding, the problem won't be solved and you are now excommunicated. Just ask the pastors who protests Lutheran bodies ordaining women, or the SSPX. While institutionalism can give stability, it ultimately leads to difficulties with faith itself. The Pharisees derided John the Baptist because they could not believe an uneducated, unordained man was directly inspired by God. But since the *people* who paid tithes to them believed what John said, they could not speak against him. When Jesus asks them about John, they are thus paralyzed, for they do not *actually* believe in Divine authority. Their own authority is based on a social contract with believers and they know it: that is how it is with all institutional ministers. Confronted with someone who *actually* has Divine authority, the real deal, what can they possibly do but oppose him quietly? Thus our Lord, being God in human flesh, sidesteps their silly attempt at delegitimizing His ministry. He could certainly answer them directly about who He is and how He has authority from our Heavenly Father, but He had done so many times already. They only asked this time so as to publicly lump Him in with the crazies; so He turns their trap on their head by starting an institutional short circuit.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! -2 Peter 3:12 The only acceptable form of accelerationism is being a good Christian boy, loving your neighbor and evangelizing 🤗

The logical end point of accelerationism, I'm very glad that Mike Ma got sent to Agartha a few years ago so he couldn't be a part of this discussion

The latest in the Evaluating Gnosticism series is now up! Hey so supposedly Pope Sixtus II wrote a book called "The Sentences of Sextus," and it's a bunch of semi-Christian syncretistic trash. Uh, pope resptector bros I don't feel so good... https://soundcloud.com/verylutheran/evaluating-gnosticism-pt-115-a

20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” -Matthew 21:20-22 So Jesus curses a fig tree for not bearing fruit and it withers immediately. The Apostles see this and they are amazed at the miracle, not understanding that Jesus is giving a sort of object lesson for what will happen to Jerusalem. God had given Judah so many chances for fulfilling the Covenant, but now it is evident by their disobedience, greed, and false teaching that the Old Covenant must be done away with entirely. The last straw will of course be their conspiracy to have Jesus crucified. At first blush, Christ's response to the disciples' wonder seems out of left field. "Yes I killed this tree and you can too if you have enough faith. With enough belief you can throw a mountain into the sea if you want." It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the message He just sent by cursing the tree, and we would be hard pressed to think of faith as a superpower. I don't know about you, but I have not seen a single mountain grow legs and drown itself. What is He really getting at? Remember my friends, the Apostles are ordained to do our Lord's work here on earth. When Christ rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven, He gave them the Great Commission - which spreads the message of the New Covenant! By their faith in our Lord and obedience to this solemn task, they participate in the withering of the fig tree of Jerusalem. At Pentecost, the message of St. Peter brought thousands to the faith, who then spread the Gospel even further through the Roman empire. The pharisaic system was made to crumble by their witness. By the Apostles' faith, the fig tree withered and was made ready for the fires of war. When Jesus says "even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen," He is *facing Jerusalem.* Even more importantly, He is facing Mount Zion. Psalms were written to Zion, and from David's rule onward it became a symbol for Jerusalem - and even Judah itself. Meanwhile, the Gentiles were spoken of as the sea in the Old Testament, the roiling waters of chaos that threaten the holy mountain (Isaiah 17:12-13). Indeed, Zion *was* thrown into the sea, for the Romans destroyed the Temple and took the jews off into Exile, a more grievous Exile than the Babylonian captivity even. Christ commissions the Apostles to have faith that He will do as He says He will. He will fulfill and do away with the Old Covenant, establishing an everlasting Kingdom of Heaven. By their faith, they will participate in spreading the good news to all the people, bringing them out of the decrepit order and into eternal life by the Word. And, by faith, they stand as prophets against the old order, the same way that Elijah predicted drought and other punishments upon rebellious Israel (1 Kings 17:1). While the Old Covenant is gone, we receive a similar invitation. The author of Hebrews explains the value of faith in the eleventh chapter of his epistle, and we do well to heed the teaching there. By faith we stand against the decaying, decrepit orders of the world and the devil behind them, spreading the Gospel and counteracting the wickedness of our day. Just as Jesus invited the Apostles to witness against the fig tree and mountain of Jerusalem, He invites us today to spread the Gospel and save souls from the tyranny of the devil, the world and death itself.