The Very Lutheran Project

First time I ever saw a troon, I was 10 years old and living in Vermont. I was in the dollar store, and one of the employees walked up and very kindly asked if "he" could help me. I looked at "him", short, very doughy frame, woman's voice inspite of the patchy poorly grown in facial hair, and thought "what the hell happened to this woman?" and that she had beautiful eyes and would have been very pretty if she wasnt fucked up everywhere else. She was nervous and uncertain, and could tell that this 10 year old boy looking to spend his $5 on shitty snacks could tell she wasnt a dude. Ten years later, Im checking in on my meth addict parents. They've turned their home into the neighborhood flop-house. There's a woman who looks 30 going on 60 sitting on the couch crying about how the state took her daughter. Her face is worn, scabbed, scratched, and picked apart. Apropos of nothing, she just launches into a meth induced orgasm. Ten years and a thousand miles apart, I had the exact same feeling for her as I did for that weird troon lady in Vermont. Sad, atrocious, and completely avoidable waste of a body and life. @GenderDystopia

22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed. -Matthew 17:22-23 It cannot be stressed enough that Jesus *told* the Apostles exactly what was going to happen to Him. They are greatly distressed, not knowing whether they can ask anything further: St. Peter tried discussing it and Jesus rebuked him. We cannot fault the Apostles for their lack of understanding. Christ spoke in parables and metaphors all the time, and while sometimes they understood it they were often left in the dark. How were they supposed to know that Jesus was speaking literally here? One might point to the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah and say that they had no excuse, but that would make us all hypocrites. The first arrival of the Messiah was prophesied with enough vagueness that no one - not even the angels - could figure out what was to happen; we often feel the same angst regarding the Return of our Savior. If He were to come and tell us how the Second Advent will happen in plain language, we would probably feel the same confusion as the Apostles felt when hearing that He was to die and rise again. We cannot fault them for their lack of understanding, but we *can* say this, that they had problems with faith. They believed in Jesus, but they had a hard time TRUSTING Him. St. Peter should have said, "Lord I do not know what You mean with all this crucifixion language, nor do I understand Your rising that you speak of. But I shall be with You and follow Your instructions, please help me to honor You." Instead, he opposed what Jesus said and got yelled at. Then when Christ spoke of His impending death again, they kept silent and became distressed instead of trusting or asking more questions. When Jesus says one must enter the Kingdom of Heaven like a child, we can see now what He meant. When a child's father leaves home for work every day, the boy doesn't know when his father will be back. Yet he does not fret, despite his total dependence on his dad for daily life and food. He knows he will see his father again, not being anxious but trusting despite his lack of understanding. Of course, believers learn and mature *after* they have entered the Kingdom, but at the outset we must simply let God lead us by the hand, that we may be on solid ground when it is time to learn.

Starting up the stream VC!

Streaming in an hour! Let's read our Bibles! Find the stream here only at 9pm EST: https://t.me/VeryLutheran

LEVITICUS BIBLE STUDY STREAM TONIGHT! Let's start talking about skin conditions and why the priests had to take charge over those who had them. Catch the stream here at 9pm EST: https://t.me/VeryLutheran

14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” -Matthew 17:14-20 Two things are true. First, not every problem is caused by demonic activity. We create plenty of problems on our own, such that even if the devil and his angels were cast into the lake of fire this very moment we would not see much of a change. Second, a whole lot more problems are cause by demons than we would like to admit. Evil spirits are capable of causing great misery, and more than just in the spiritual or emotional sense. The man tells Jesus that his son is plagued by seizures. The boy has been burned, drowned, and beaten by his affliction. What is behind it? A demon. Full of malice, the wicked spirit cares about nothing but hurting the child, and is so stubbornly attached to its singular goal of harm that the Apostles cannot exorcise it. When researching the topic of evil, you may hear about a distinction between moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is the result of free will, with people making evil choices and thus hurting others: drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps, and serial killers are all examples of moral evil. Natural evil on the other hand is more about *disaster,* the type of evil where there is no identifiable agent behind it: hurricanes that destroy houses, cancer, locust plagues, etc. Natural evil is unfortunate, but we most often chalk it up to living in a fallen world as we pray for deliverance and restoration. Demons throw a monkey wrench into that distinction. Anyone today seeing a child get a seizure would assume that it is natural evil which is occurring - but what if it isn't? What if an unclean spirit is attacking the poor boy? The same could be said with various mental conditions, natural disasters, accidents, and more. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that the vast majority of instances where "natural evil" occurs, demons are behind it trying to make our lives miserable. "Natural evil" is hardly ever natural. The trouble is, we do not know when they are behind it or whether casting a demon away even changes anything. If an evil spirit causes an accident that severs a man's arm, casting out the demon will not result in his arm growing back. The boy in our reading may still have suffered from seizures, just not the kind that threw him into the hearth or pond. Jesus shows us the way forward. Faith as a mustard seed, faith in Him especially. We fail to even comprehend evil, let alone fight it adequately: we cannot even tell when a demon is behind a disaster or not. But trusting in Jesus - who CAN discern these matters properly and can cast away all wickedness - will yield great benefits. Herein such faith brings us to union with Him, participating in His strength through Communion. He becomes the keeper of our souls who shall not let us perish, and our Protector against all demonic power. It is by this union that we have access to the power that Christ has - He who can move mountains. If our faith is in line with His will, then nothing is impossible.

Featured in this episode: -Robespierre’s autistic screeching against the king -The declaration of rights (that the Jacobins both wrote and ignored) -Robespierre’s only sermon for his dopey cringefest religion -Marat coping, seething, malding and peeing himself over the French not being violent enough (Charlotte Corday did nothing wrong) -Danton’s weepy pathetic defense before his fellow murderers -Babeuf’s childish tryhard conspiracy

The latest Godcast is now out! Episode 380: How the Jacobins (accidentally) Prove Christianity It was the basedest of times, it was the cringiest of times. The French Revolution represents many things to many people, but it certainly didn’t represent anything approaching wisdom. Today Super reads from the writings, speeches and court transcripts from the radical Jacobin faction and shows how their buffoonery vindicates the Christian faith. Join us as we meander through the minds of men who loved the guillotine so much that they ended up (involuntarily) trying it out themselves. Direct Download: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/thegodcast/GC_380.mp3 Awesome sites where you can find show notes: https://amerikaner.org/the-godcast-episode-380-how-the-jacobins-accidentally-prove-christianity/ https://exodusamericanus.wordpress.com/2026/06/21/the-godcast-episode-380-how-the-jacobins-accidentally-prove-christianity/ Support the show! https://verylutheran.gumroad.com/

SUNDAY RESOURCES NOW UP! For this week's homily, let's talk about a unique trait in the personality of Jesus. Audio: https://m.soundcloud.com/verylutheran/the-self-willed-christ Video: https://youtu.be/oeZwDJr7JGw And for the LEVITICUS BIBLE STUDY, let's chat about the Mosaic regulations regarding childbirth: Audio: https://m.soundcloud.com/verylutheran/leviticus-pt-14-the-laws-for Video: https://youtu.be/CI1LlPNAQ4c PDF manuscripts can be found here: https://verylutheran.biz/resources Support the VLP! If you can't, please let someone know about us, it helps to spread the word! https://verylutheran.gumroad.com/ https://verylutheran.biz/contact God bless your weekend everyone!

Laugh react emoji guy is laughing with happy tears, he realizes the truth 😌

Yes, this applies to Luther too, since he was an Augustinian and Augustine imported stoic and manichean ideas into his doctrine. Luther himself is touched by the syncretic aspect of history just as much as everyone else. Thankfully though he worked against it in his lifetime, and we have reason to believe it was complete once the Formula of Concord was signed.

Among the Apostolic and early Fathers, you don't find any calvinistic doctrines, let alone EO/RCC ones like prayers to the saints, marian dogmas, iconodulism, theosis, papacy, etc. They simply aren't there. The vast majority of Church history is accurately described as the squabbles between groups who syncretized with one non-Christian school versus those who syncretized with a different non-Christian school. Pick your poison too, whether it's platonism, hermeticism, manicheanism, gnosticism, stoicism, or Greco-Roman mystery schools. By the 5th century, most Christian branches stood for some mix between what the Scriptures teach and what their favorite pagans taught. Knowing "the original Greek" doesn't get us out of those woods. Filtering out the syncretic additions and being zealous for the Word does.

Guys that go into New Testament Greek all the time as if it proves their denominational distinctives are goofy. Homie the first two hundred years of recognizable Christianity had almost none of today's distinctives at all but they universally spoke and read Koine fluently.

Weekend checkpoint: you are doing ok, right anon? You holding up alright? Did you get your morning prayers in, are you relaxing?

9 And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” 10 And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 11 He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. 12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. -Matthew 17:9-13 What if Jesus had shown His glorified appearance to the world? If He walked around shining and the Father kept proclaiming that He is the Son of God from the heavens, what would happen? Certainly He would have gained plenty more followers. It would cause a stir among the Gentiles as the Romans and Greeks would begin bringing Him olive branches and laurel wreaths. Animal sacrifices would be made, everyone would scramble to obey the Mosaic Law, and the various schools of jewish thought would compete to get His endorsement. There would have been a religious revolution, but the moment Jesus wasn't seen for a day they would immediately return to their previous paganism and sin. In our reading, Christ tells Sts. Peter, James and John to keep the Transfiguration a secret. If they had not done so, then at best they would have invited the same results as the *last time* Jesus dwelt among men in His glorified state. St. Jude identifies Jesus as the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud (Jude vs.5), meaning the Israelites were in His direct presence every day for forty years. Despite seeing that God was near them every day, they still sinned, still engaged in idolatry, and still grumbled against being delivered from slavery. Christ opts to keep His Divine nature a secret for the time being instead of repeating history. The three Apostles start thinking out loud. Jesus said He will rise from the dead, and *then* they can talk about their experience. But doesn't Malachi say that Elijah must come first? Didn't they just see Elijah at the mountain? What good is a Messianic Secret if a prophet returns and brings the people to such an expectation anyway? Christ replies that Elijah already showed up - that is, John the Baptist taught under the authority of Elijah and all the prophets - and Herod had him killed. The same must happen to Jesus, our Lord explains: He too must die so as to fulfill everything needed for salvation. Otherwise, our sin problem remains and no amount of Divine intervention (short of killing us all) would stop it. Thus, the vision of Transfiguration must remain a secret.